Truth behind the lies
by Elandil
Summary: "Percy died 2000 years ago, he was killed when he tried to defend Gaea from Zeus. Why can't we just forget him already?" Many years after the 2nd giant war and Gaea is rising again with the help of a new friend. Without their 'hero' the only hope of Olympus comes in the form of the unfriendly assassins of Chaos and their amnesiac leader, Shade, who seems to be hiding something...
1. Chapter 1

Annabeth's PoV:

The celebrations were in full swing outside in the sunlight, everyone was enjoying the festivities being as loud as possible. Everyone except me, the girl who hid in the shadows of her mother's cabin, tears falling down her cheeks as she tried to pretend that she was still in one piece, but I was not going to ruin their fun. Not now, after the week we had just had, everyone needed this. Again, everyone except me. I just wanted to crawl under a rock and never come out, but then, what do the others care? We had won the war, the giants were dead and Gaea had returned to her slumber, so why did I still feel like I was under attack? The answer to that is as simple as it is short. There is only one word to explain my current state, and that is thus:

Percy.

If you had told me 3 days ago that the one person who I would have entrusted the world to was going to betray me, I would have escorted you to Mr D personally, but then this is always the case. Why do I always put my faith in the people who are only going to hurt me in the end? I did not enjoy this pain, when Luke died, it felt as though a small part of my heart did too, but now I can no longer feel that organ. No, now I no longer have need of such a thing. Percy had been my one true love, my soul mate, my everything, but to him I had just been a toy, just another worthless pawn in the game he was playing, only to be tossed aside when I was of no more use to him.

No matter how tight I curled myself up, the pain refused to fade, only growing with every passing second so that it was as intense as a spear piercing through your flesh, slowly and deliberately, getting closer to my your heart with every passing second, but never actually killing you no matter how much you longed to escape through death. I was a prisoner here to my own body, continuously feeling the pain of the ragged hole where my heart should be, but it was not there anymore, he took it. He didn't let go even as he stepped out of my life and back into the shadows from whence he came.

Its not just the betrayal though, no, I could deal with that, it's the fact that he didn't even have the decency to say good bye. Instead, he left me with no excuses or even an explanation. That was what was causing me all this pain. Not that he had used me, but the fact that he hadn't even had the decency to tell me that to my face. Instead, he left and now I was left here, broken and in tears, the way I never thought I would be again. But I guess that only goes to show how wrong a person can be doesn't it.

I hear a soft knock on the door and Thalia calls to see if I'm okay, but I don't respond. I know it is cruel, I am not the only on grieving the loss of what we have only now found to be a once sided friendship, but I just cannot bear any more words of comfort of looks of pity, I had had too many of them as of late. Still, I felt mean, this wasn't right, its something _he _would have done, acting in a way that he knew would hurt other people and not really caring, but I still couldn't make myself answer the distraught girl at my door. I only found out yesterday that she had loved him but it looked as though we had all been played. Slumping on my bed, my swollen eyes closed without me wanting them to, and the very scene I had been mourning returned to torture me, even in my dreams.

_The battle of Olympus had been raging for 3 days now and no matter how hard we tried, we kept getting pushed back. Our forces were now half way up the mountain and almost everyone was either wounded or so far past the point of exhaustion that they could barely keep their swords straight. Beside me, I saw Piper tumble, struck down by an earth borne, but before I could do anything to help her, the monster dissolved around the point of a glowing bronze blade._

Percy.

_My eyes lit up when I saw his smirking face, finding my lips pull up into a smile of their own accord. Percy was here and he was fighting by my side, everything was how it should be, well apart from the army of demons who were desperately trying to tear us limb from limb, but then, they could wait. Lowering my dagger, I pulled my seaweed brain closer and we shared a kiss that spoke volumes of our love and faith in each other. In the middle of the battle field, I had found my moment of bliss, unfortunately, it seems to be a universal law that all good things must come to an end and, too soon, he pulled away._

_For a moment I was shocked, but then my surroundings finally came back to me and my instincts kicked in, my body dodging to the side just I time to avoid the Drakon's fire that had blistered through the place where my body had been mere moments before. After that, I returned my attention to the fight , cursing myself for my slip and vowing to have a word with Percy about his timing later. I lost myself in the sheer number of the enemy's assault for a long time after that, until I herd the shouting. _

"_Annabeth, we need you now!"_

_The words registered in my mind even as my arm continued to swing, reaping death in its wake with every movement of my dagger, nodding tersely, I signalled for Nico to continue, not wanting to let myself get distracted again. No matter how much we fought, more monsters were there to take the place of their fallen companions, the stream of opponents seemed endless, and if I stopped for even a second, I would be over whelmed._

"_Annabeth, its Percy, he's injured!"_

_It took some time for the words to cut through the haze of adrenaline that clouded my mind but when they did, my blood ran cold. Body moving on auto pilot, I began to scan the sea of faces around me looking for the familiar black hair and sea green eyes of the man I loved even as I barked out my desperate question._

"_Where?"_

"_by the cave we were going to use to trap Gaea, I think he intends on luring her out there and duelling her to get this thing to end. You have to stop him or he'll be killed!"_

_I didn't think, I didn't plan my next move or even stop to view the obvious trap that had been lain out in front of me. Blinded by the curse of love, I just acted. Springing away and sprinting through the crowd of combatants, a surge of worry washing away all feelings of exhaustion that had previously held dominion over my limbs as I approached the opening in the rock that our entire plan had centred around. But when I reached it, I did not find what I had expected, instead I heard voices. Shocked, I stopped in time to hear a woman's tones flow out of the entrance._

"… _life will be saved and you would not have to worry about the out come of this petty fighting anymore. You would finally be free from the power of your little gods."_

_I pressed myself up against the cold stone of the mountain, trying to quieten the rasping breaths that were filling my lungs as silence filled the air. Finally, another voice answered, a voice that I knew all to well and his answer shocked me to the core._

"_Then I will accept. There is no point in losing lives for such a cause. I will join you… if you will take me."_

_I felt my knees give out and I fell heavily to the floor, trying desperately to comprehend what I had just heard. There was no way that Percy could betray us, surely that went against his fatal flaw? But even fro this distance I could feel the power in the woman's voice as she replied to his declaration. I only knew of one goddess who possessed such strength, and she was the one we had come to confront._

"_You will be branded as a traitor, there will be no way back to your past life."_

_As she said this, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise. She spoke in an amused tone, as if she knew that I was here and could hear every word. I couldn't shake the feeling that she _wanted _me to hear this._

"_I fail to see how that matters. Is something the matter my lady?"_

"_Oh, no, it is nothing. Now, arise as my champion Percy Jackson, son of the sea, it is about time that we put an end to this pathetic fighting once and for all."_

"_As you wish my lady."_

_And that was when the world went black._

I woke up screaming, tears pouring down my cheeks as I relived the last thing I remembered before waking up in the camp infirmary to the sight of my mother and Thalia leaning over me. Even now, once all of the gods had confirmed my suspicions of his disappearance, after we had some how managed to return victorious from the battle, it didn't seem real. Percy could not have betrayed us… could he?

So many of the campers had joined us in Greece, so few had returned. The cabins all hung black cloth from the windows and we burned so many shrouds that the sky seemed to be died black. So many of our friends would not be returning:

Katie, Frank, Leo, Piper, Drew, Pheobe… the list went on for more than I wished to count, the final name however, refusing to be ignored:

Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon, the love of my life and the traitor of Olympus.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry, I forgot to put this in the last chapter. This is my disclaimer, I am a 16 year old girl born in cologne, and raised in Munich, therefore I cannot be Rick Reordan and so I do not own Percy Jackson. Anyway, here's the next chapter, enjoy!**

~2,000 years later~

3rd person PoV:

The shadows in the city hung deep and menacing, stifling all sound like a shroud draped over the buildings, to Shade, I was a fitting setting for what he had to do on such a night. Taking a deep breath, he broadened his senses, allowing all the sensations of the mortals to wash over and through him, searching for his target.

Bellow, the drunkards were stumbling back through the murky pathways, nearly incomprehensible with drink. The assassin curled his nose up in disgust, how anyone could lower their guard so much was beyond him, let alone how they tolerated the noxious fumes that made him reel even from this distance. No, Shade hated mortals with a passion, but he had a job to do, no time for distractions.

Quiet as the shadows after which he was named, he slipped from roof top to roof top casting not even a shadow on the streets below, if anyone had even bothered to look up all they would have seen was a fleeting patch of darkness that could easily be explained away as the product of alcohol or on overactive imagination. On the roof of an abandoned ware house, the assassin stopped, his target was close.

Shade could feel the fear in the air, his prey had sensed his approach, but it had only been expected, after so long on the run, his luck was sure to run out at some point. The throne in his master's side that had pained them both for too long, now it was time that the pathetic excuse for a criminal joined the ranks of the many before him, the ones who had fallen victim to the wicked blades that this one now felt against the bare skin of his neck. Losing all sense of his dignity, the vagabond fell to his knees in a desperate search for salvation.

"P-please… have mercy on me… this is all a misunderstanding!"

The assassin's lip curled. Yes, the begging, there was always begging. The thought that a soul fallen to such depths of Tartarus could believe that they would be saved by grovelling at the feet of their judge almost made him laugh. Almost.

"It is too late for pleading Mikeal, you should have thought of this before you annoyed my master!"

The flat tone of the armed man made his victim descend into hysteria. So much so that the words would have been incomprehensible to any being with softer hearing.

"P-please…. Have you no mercy?"

"No."

His golden eyes flashing in the fluorescent light of the streets, Shade silenced the man with a flick of his knife, a quick, clean cut that silenced the scream in the dead man's throat. In less than a minute, the deed was done.

In the morning, when the body was found, all the lone witness could of the event or of the murderer was that it was a teen with golden eyes and raven hair. A being who seemed to be cloaked in the shadows that were all too eager to regain their master. To the police, this man was nothing more than a nightmare.

After his job, Shade returned to his apartment, discarding his robe at the door and flopping down onto his bed, breathing in the sense of incense that hung thick in the air. At first, the whole idea behind his job made him sick to the core, he would be up shivering all night after each one, but now they had lost their effect, becoming little more than an annoyance. He sighed, now he would be able to spend the rest of his night in peace… or so he thought.

Just as the boy was about to fall to the depths of his slumber, the dark room became illuminated by a glowing violet light that seemed to emanate from nothing and yet everything all at once. Quick as a flash Shade jumped off of his midnight comforter and landed upon his knees in the centre of the small apartment.

"My Lord?"

"Ah, yes, my son, may I take it that your last assignment went by without difficulty?"

The voice seemed to come from the same source as the light, that is to say, thin air.

"Yes My Lord."

"He has been silenced?"

"Yes my Lord."

The boy's lips twitched and even though he was facing the ground, it seemed as though his partner in the conversation noticed as amusement coloured his voice when he next spoke.

"You believe that I am doubting your abilities, do you not my son?"

The smirk was now pronounced on Shade's face as he began to take on the look of a guilty child, suggesting that, yes, that was exactly what he had been thinking.

"No My Lord."

"Ah, yes you do my child, I can see it in your heart, but no matter, I need you to return to my city once again, I have another job for you."

"So soon My Lord?"

The confusion in his words was so obvious that the other voice just laughed for a moment before answering.

"I know it is a far shorter period between jobs than you are used to, but it is in deed urgent and you are the only on fit to handle it I fear. Please return so that I may give you the details."

"Yes My Lord."

With that, the room was once again plunged into darkness and Shade stiffly rose to his feet. To have to return home so soon was practically unheard of, it meant that the job was to be one of great importance and, although he wanted little more than to lose himself in sleep, he had to admit, this really piqued his curiosity. After 2000 years of service for his master, the assassin was not used to surprises. Wasting no time in gathering all that was left of his energy, he focused upon an image of a throne room moulded from black marble and guarded by shadows, when he reopened his eyes, he was there.

Moving swiftly forwards, the boy bowed to a figure who sat on a raised dais and seated in such a way that nothing more than a silhouette could be seen. Instead, the boy focused his eyes firmly on the floor by his feet.

"You called."

"Ah, good, that was fast. You are improving my child."

The boy nodded his head once to acknowledge the compliment, but the cool expression remained on his face even as the figure in front of him rose to their full and imposing height before continuing.

"Now, I would like you word that you will not interrupt until you hear the end of my proposal, for a fear that it is one that will not meet your approval and I do not wish to be interrupted. May I have it?"

Although the youth seemed slightly startled by the question, his reply was immediate, illustrating his trust in the man before him.

"Of course, my Lord."

"Good, good. Now, this new job is one as my envoy, I need a message sent to a certain group of people that you know very well, though I fear you do not take much of a liking to them, nor they to you."

The man sighed while Shade's face began to darken. He had a pretty good idea about in which direction this talk was going, and he didn't like it one bit. Only the fact that he had given his word kept him from angrily shouting out, choosing, instead, to bite his cheek as his master resumed speaking.

"I see from your face that you have already guessed the people of whom I speak, but do not think that your temper will get you anywhere, I am your master and it is within your best interests in doing what I say. Do I make myself clear?"

The boy flinched and, although he was gritting his teeth all the while, he nodded in agreement. He owed so much to his master that he dare not disobey him now.

"Good. In the morning, you shall depart for Olympus where the gods, yes, even your father," The last bit was added at the indignant hiss from the youth, "have gathered to discuss a growing dilemma. The mother of the earth stirs yet again and now she is stronger than ever. You cannot defeat her with seals now, she must be destroyed once and for all. Can I count on you to be my _impartial _liaison in the meetings as I cannot go myself?"

"Yes my Lord."

These words, spoken so often over the years, had never been so forced. Noticing it, the lord of all creation leant down to embrace his apprentice, continuing on in a softer tone though the boy in his arms did not relax from his frozen posture.

"You will see, I do this for your own good. I think you need this my son, you need to return home!"


	3. Chapter 3

Chiorin's PoV:

I sighed and walked up the steps that were the last obstacle between me and my destination, the throne room of Olympus, but, instead of just barging in when I reached the top as I normally would, I waited. The others were meant to be coming, so I had to stay here until they came, otherwise I would be lectured by Taralan again and, immortal or not, I didn't really think that would be a good idea, nor a pleasurable experience. To my surprise however, I was not the first one there, instead, I was greeted by a pale, wraith like figure leaning against the nearest marble pillar, gazing out across Olympus.

"I'm surprised you got here first, I thought your father was still working you hard!"

At the sound of my voice, the boy jumped a mile (something that I was rather proud of) before he finally turned back to me, his lilac eyes flashing in the golden glow of the immortal city.

"And I'm surprised you even turned up at all. Didn't you say you hated these meetings and that you would do everything within your power to avoid them? Or is _your _father still stronger than you?"

I growled at him from behind gritted teeth, wondering whether or not I would be able to get away with half killing the god of lost souls in front of the lord of the dead, but I decided against it, he was goading me, he wanted to fight, and, if he wanted a duel, I was not going to be the one to give it him. Instead, I gave him my best smile and decided to pet him 'softly' on his shoulder.

"Its good to see you too Nenyo, and no, my father did not bring me here, it was an order from Zeus."

The gothic boy took a quick step back with a worried look on his face. We hadn't seen each other in around 200 years, and in that time, I had, finally, managed to gain some control over my temper, but he didn't know that. I saw him take a quick glance at the shoulder I had touched, trying to be discrete about checking for 'kick me' signs, it nearly made me laugh. It was cute that he thought I was planning something when, for once, I wasn't.

After a few more minutes of waiting, we heard some rapid footsteps coming up behind us and the figure of a 15 year old girl bolted up to Nenyo, knocking him to the floor with the force of her bear hug, or, as I like to call it, her death grip. Taralan had arrived it seemed, and it looked as though she had good news judging from her reaction. Either that, or she missed her husband. Probably both.

"Ummmm, as much as I'm enjoying this, could you let go please, I can't breathe!"

With a laugh like a skylark, the young girl pulled him to his feet in a swift motion and they both turned to face me. I grinned at the happy couple, noticing the slight trickle of gold running down from the ghost king's temple.

"Hey Tarla, what's up with the tackle? Did Nen cheat on you again?"

"Oh, hey and no, I just heard something interesting and… wait, WHAT?"

I laughed as her voice rose dramatically in volume for the last word in her sentence as she turned to glare at the boy beside her, attempting to tell the truth from the depths of his violet eyes as he shot a murderous look back at me.

"You know that have never, will never, cheat on her Rin, why would you even say that?"

I shrugged and tried to straighten my face as he continued to reassure the girl that she was the only one for him. Of course, I had been lying in my last statement, but then, who didn't enjoy playing with their friends ever now and then? I sighed and watched them for a bit before I got bored and decided to bring the conversation back to the track it had been on before.

"The news?"

"What? Oh, oh yeah, the news… its great!"

Her eyes lit up as she said this and we watched her with bated breath. There were very few things that made our leader act the age that she appeared and, what ever they were, it was usually a good idea to find out the cause as soon as possible either because it was time to run or because it was something good. And then, the great Taralan, daughter of Zeus, goddess of sacrifice and most prominent of the gods of heroes, _squealed_.

"Alyssa is coming back!"

For a minute we stared at her dumbstruck before the words finally filtered through the shock. Not that they made any sense. For the last 1000 years, our team mate, and friend, Alyssa, had been missing, vanishing from her apartment leaving a note to say that she wanted some time alone for a little while, but now she was coming back, I couldn't help it, I grinned, but then another thought struck me and my blood ran cold.

"This is bad."

The other two broke off their kiss long enough to give me quizzical looks before Tarla growled, a guttural sound in her throat that belied her annoyance, at me. Oops.

"Look Chi, rust because you don't necessarily get along with Lysa all the time, it does not mean that you can ruin this occasion for us. Why can't you be even a little happy about her return?"

I rolled my eyes to her words, trying to temper my response so as not to reveal my true fear. It was never a good idea to get this kid angry, the last time… well, lets just say we had to wipe the minds of a_ lot _of mortals. Instead of running as I would have liked to, I faced her squarely."

"Because it means that something is going to happen. Something bad. Do you really think that she would just come back of her own accord? Did you think that it was a coincidence that we have all been called here on the day of her return? Something is happening back on earth and I'm guessing it has something to do with our past, with _him_!"

At this reminder, the light of hope in their eyes died. I was right, they both knew it, even if they didn't want to, but then, the truth was obvious. For the fist time in many generations, we flickered back to our true forms, the forms of the demigods we had once been, the children who had blindly followed the wrong man into battle and had been left to pay the price for their mistaken judgement.

"Even after all this time, I still can't believe that Percy did that, he was like a brother to me and then he goes and betrays us!" Nenyo, spat. His dark blue eyes looked misted over with a millennia of unshed tears while his cheeks sparkled with the tracks of the millions that had escaped over the years.

"I guess he was just the same as all of the others. He wanted power, no matter the cost. I can't believe that I still see him as one of my best friends, why can we not just forget him, he died on that battle field defending Gaea."

Taralan sighed leaning against her boyfriend's side, hiding her face in his long black hair, trying to muffle the sounds of her sniffles. Before, however, our sudden depression could get the better of us once again, the doors to our right swung open, an invitation of the gods to join their council. Without hesitating, we turned and stormed into the darkness, heading towards the meeting hall.

"And why should we believe you? You ran off for a long time _girl _or did you forget?"

We heard the voices before we saw their owners and I flinched at the tone of voice my father used with the one who could only be Alyssa but, to my surprise, she remained calm, speaking in a steady voice and, we found when we could finally see them, looked straight into his eyes before answering.

"Please my Lord Ares, I swear that I tell the truth. I was down on the earth for a long time and I noticed things. The mother of all is awakening again, the monsters are growing stronger with every passing days and with shorter and shorter times between their regenerations. The doors of death must have been reopened!"

There was an uncomfortable grumbling in the room as the Olympian council was reminded of an enemy that they had struggled to defeat before, but had been sure was completely eradicated. It appears that we had been wrong on that note just as I had been right in my sentiments outside. If what she said was true, it meant only one thing, Gaea was rising yet again. Still, blatantly trying to avoid the truth, Zeus leaned forwards, stubborn as always.

"And who do you have to vouch for your words granddaughter? The lady of nature has stirred many times over the years, but that does not mean that there is a threat of her rising. Tell us, do you know of anyone who can affirm your opinion?"

Alyssa looked as though she was about to break down in tears she was so desperate, but, before she could even move to look at her mother for help, a shadow slipped out from the corner of the room before vanishing and leaving behind a robed figure of a man who raised his cowed head to stare at our king.

"I vouch for the girl's words, she speaks naught but the truth."

His voice was flat and cold, it sent a shiver up my spine and I unconsciously moved away from the hooded figure, noticing vaguely that there was only shadow under the cover on his face, I could not make out any of his features.

"Oh, and who may you be to stride so ardently into the most private council of the gods?"

I thought that the figure in the robe laughed a little at the words, but he did not move, even if his aura grew a little darker and the feeling of danger abut him increased, his words were as bored as they were before, refusing to allow any of his obvious irritation in to them.

"My name is Shade, the envoy of Chaos, Lord of creation and the void."

A moment of silence… and then all Hades broke loose.


	4. Chapter 4

Shade's PoV:

I remained there in the centre of the room, allowing all of the noise to wash over me without really caring. This was the part that I had not been looking forward to, the questions and the riot at the sound of my master's name, I was rather glad however, that Lord Chaos had requested that the rest of my team remained in his castle while I settled things here, some of them, although being some of the best assassins in the galaxy, some of them were of quite a meek disposition, when they were not hunting that is. Rather than try and focus on the one specific question at I time, I chose to scan the faces of the assembled gods, looking for the one that was my father. I had no luck in my search.

After a short while of the masses of noise, Zeus appeared to grow tired for he called for silence, though the order was met grudgingly at best. One by one, the assembled immortals grew quiet, focusing their eyes once again upon me. This too was something that I was not enjoying, for a warrior who spent all of his time in the shadows, there was nothing worse than attention. After all, to be seen was to fail, and to fail was to die in this line of work. Still, I attempted to remain impassive, working to maintain the stoic expression upon my face as they once again addressed me.

"So you say, but is there any proof of your identity? For all we know, you could be the servant of one of our enemies, sent to spy on our meeting. We have even less reason to trust your words than those of my daughter."

I mentally sighed at the words of Athena, though the identity of the girl beside of me was now clear. But we did not have time for this, as the girl had stated before, the army was rising and our master wanted us to set up defences around the camp of the demigods, though for that to be a possibility, we needed their trust. Forcing myself to swallow my own pride, I spoke as humbly as possible.

"Please my Lady, there are very few who can call upon the name of my master and not be struck dead so the very fact that I am still here before you, suggests that my words before were naught but the truth. Though, as I believe that you will not be satisfied until you have a deeper truth so I swear to you upon the Styx that my words before were not a lie."

Thunder rumbled in the skies above as I made my oath, I had heard from Rogue that, to the Greeks, an oath on the river that bordered the realm of Hades was the most serious vow one could make. I could tell that my frankness took them completely by surprised, though some of them now tried to make more space between myself and them. I fought back another laugh as I realized that they were scared of me. Good.

"Then what business does the Lord creator of all wish with us, and why do you so easily confirm such a notion when the primordials are not permitted to interfere."

Zeus' face went pale as he spoke and I was surprised that he so easily accepted such a thing as Gaea rising once again, I had heard that he was stubborn, but he did not seem to be living up to that description. To my mind, resigned would be a better word for him. When I came here, I had been prepared for the worst, but they didn't know who I was and they weren't expecting me too…

"I say we make him reveal his face, I don't know about you, but I cannot trust someone who does not trust us enough to show his true identity!"

Me and my big mouth, but, thankfully, I had a valid excuse for denying that request. I turned to glare at the one who asked the question, only to find the Lord of the sea staring at me intently, trying to se through the shadows that covered my face perfectly. Unfortunately, I had to end their curiosity before it became troublesome. Working to sound neutral, I responded to his question.

"My master does not allow me to show my appearance to anyone. If I revealed it to you, no one would leave this room alive."

Okay, their looks of indignation told me that they took my friendly warning as a threat. Oh well, at least they realize that they cannot scare me into anything that they wish of me. Trying to avoid any conflict, I carried on.

"Anyway, I come with a message from my master. The earth mother has risen again, and this time she cannot be resealed nor lured back to sleep. She must be destroyed for once and for all so that she is a no threat to anyone ever again. This is the message from the Lord Chaos."

Once again, silence reigned in the room as they processed my words though I was expecting this to happen. I talked to Rogue for preparation beforehand after all. She said that, around 2000 years ago, they had a hard struggle to defeat Gaea, and they only just managed to lull her back to sleep at the cost of many lives. Now they had just been told that the same approach was not going to work, I can imagine that they were feeling rather panicked. Still as a statue, I remained in the centre of the room as they began to discuss tactics.

"We need to contact the demigods."

"Where will we confront her?"

"We need to close the doors first otherwise they will never die!"

"Just attack her before she attacks us!"

It went on so long that I believe they even forgot that I was there, but, with a small cough, I drew their desperate gazes back to me. They had just been discussing the details of the soldiers they had available to them, despairing that they did not have enough, and I remembered the second part of my job here upon Olympus.

"If I may?"

I now felt their gazes burning into me as I spoke while Poseidon still did not remove his eyes from my face. Although it was uncomfortable, I endured the staring and remained firm on my feet, staring down Zeus as I had determined that he should be the one to address.

"What is it that you have to offer?"

"My Lord also sent me with a proposition for you, not just a warning. He says that, if you will allow us accommodation in your camp, he will offer you his private assassins and warriors for your aid in the war."

The effect was immediate, almost as if there was a ripple of energy travelling around the room as all of the immortals shared glances. A look of hope appeared in some eyes while others remained cautious, as though they did not want to be disappointed, but their general mood was somewhat lighter than it had been mere moments before. After all, I had just offered them a life line in their time of need. Again I almost laughed, but I decided in the end to bite my tongue and wait while they appeared to have a silent conversation involving the entire council. Finally, Ares turned to me. It seemed as though he took president in any matters involving wars.

"How many warriors do you say will stand with us from your army? Will you inform us of your numbers before we make any kind of deal?"

This time, I allowed myself to laugh counting the names on my hand and realizing that they would not like my answer. Me, Rogue, Ice, Karma and Gypsy. Not many, but we were the best fighters that could be found. The children of the night and personal guards of Chaos himself. Finally, I drew a deep breath and turned to the war god, allowing my broad grin to be seen by all that looked at my face.

"Five."

As soon as the word left my mouth, every one in the room froze. They had not been expecting this, but even as they all became statues upon their thrones, I could not help it. Once again, I allowed my laughter to escape from my lips. Although we, none of us, wanted to actually help the gods in the first place, this entire situation actually had the potential to become quite amusing, for all of us.


	5. Chapter 5

**Nenyo's PoV:**

I sighed and slouched deeper into my chair as I allowed all of the sounds around me to wash over my head, clutching Taralan's hand tighter in my own. If we were really only going to have such a short time left together, I was not going to let go of her at any point in the near future. Still, we were here for a reason and it was time we spoke up to our campers and told them of what we had learned at the meeting today. Gaining my feet, I cleared my throat and drew the attention of all the Legion.

"Soldiers!"

Silence filled the dining area and even the wind spirits stopped in their rush to serve all of the demigods and legacies in front of them. It was rare for me or my wife to address the army, choosing instead, to allow the preators the power that was rightfully theirs, but now it was urgent and a matter that could not afford to be put through the senate, that would take for too long.

"I need you to listen carefully to what I am about to say as it is a matter of great importance." I took a deep breath before continuing on, for some reason, I got the distinct feeling that this was not going to go down well with them, "As of tomorrow, we are moving out of the valley. It is time again for us to ally with the Greeks!"

As soon as the words left my mouth, there were murmurs of discontent breaking out all across the room with shouts of "Traitors" or "Oath breakers" doing a round, just as I was afraid there would be. Sighing again, I was about to try and quiet them, but I felt movement to my left and Taralan jumped up angrily, blue sparks dancing across her skin even though she had sword that she would attempt to gain some control over her temper for new years.

"Look." She growled in a voice that brooked no argument and silenced the whole room instantly (as well as making the temperature drop several degrees, but I was never going to tell her that), "This is a time of _war _so just in case you moronic brats can't understand what that means, let me spell it out for you . In war, you fight, you die, and you do things that you may not want to just because they are necessary, and, believe you me, this _is _bloody necessary! If you have a problem with that, you can just leave and have fun fighting the earth mother on your own!"

With that statement, she grabbed my hand once again before pulled me from the room so hard that my feet cleared the ground as we went down the stairs. I couldn't help but smile at her as she stopped by the senate building where no one would be able to see us.

"You broke your resolution!" I teased as she stood there glaring out over the city of new Rome, shivering slightly as her ADHD started acting up once again.

"Look, I'm sorry, but Camp half-blood is our home, I just hate it when they talk about the Greeks like that!"

"Hey, I know, but we just need to show them that they can trust us again, maybe even by revealing our identities."

"But…" I didn't want to let her finish that statement, afraid that she would be able to talk herself out of what was necessary. Instead, leaned down and tilted her head towards my own.

"Look, we can do this. We survived that last war, and with the help of Chaos, we will win this one too!"

And with that, I bent down and pressed my lips to hers, cutting off what ever she had been about to say next.

**Alyssa's PoV:**

As I walked into the dining pavilion back at camp, I heard everyone stop talking to stare at me, most of them should not know me, but I bet they recognised me from my picture in the big house, Chiron had an annoying habit of keeping pictures of his favourite pupils on the wall. I sighed as a familiar pang of betrayal struck my heart. On that wall, my picture was right next to his and the pain that the painting of the young, 16 year old son of Poseidon was a fresh ad the first day all over again. Trying to take my mind off of the distant past, I concentrated more on what had happened in the throne room before we came down.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~flash back~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

"_Five? Why is that amusing to you boy? Are you joking with us?"_

_At the words of Zeus, the hooded figure straightened up and turned to face him, though there was a grin as clear as day, plastered upon his face. Even as he tried to appear humble and contrite, there was still a cocky feel to every move he made._

"_Tis not the number, no do I jest, instead it is only your reactions that amuse me. You act as though this number tis not enough, though together, we five, have been known to cause disasters bigger that that of our master's making."_

_As he spoke, he took a step backwards, closer to the shadows from which he had appeared in the first place, but it appeared that I was the only one to see this as no one else noticed until he spoke one final time, his words still reverberating around the room even after he had vanished from sight._

"_We shall arrive in the morning, you have until then to decide!"_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~flash back~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

I sighed as I took a seat beside Chiorin without really thinking about it, though, of course, it made the hushed whispers all the more urgent. This confused me for a second before I remembered that I had been gone long enough for none of the current campers to recognise me as the second director of the camp. Shrugging, I settled down and waited while Chiron began to calm them to deliver the message we had brought. After the assassin had left, the decision had been pretty simple, we could not win the war on our own so we needed their help. We had been sent back to our camp to play the role of messengers.

After a few seconds, Chiron stomped is hoof upon the panelled wooden floor to draw all the attention back to himself.

"Now campers, we have an announcement."

Okay, here it goes, I wonder how they are going to react to being forced to ally with the Romans and the Warriors that Chaos? This had the potential to be quite interesting I suppose.

"We are delighted to announce the return of our other camp director, Alyssa, goddess of loyalty and heroes."

Gee, thanks Chiron, why did you have to return all the attention to me? Still I guess I better break the news to them as no one else seemed to want to. Taking a deep breath, I rose as the campers cheered, but, when they fell silent, I began to speak.

"Heroes, I have an announcement of my own to make!" That grabbed their curiosity, I guess this was a little unusual, but it wasn't as though I was new to this camp. That very thought in itself was amusing, but not now, it wouldn't do to laugh, especially in light of the news I was delivering. "We must prepare for tomorrow…"

**Shade's PoV:**

After answering the question from Zeus, I started walking back towards the shadows, wanting desperately to escape all of the attention aimed at me and, thankfully, it took only a second from me to step back into my room in my Master's palace. With mixed feelings of relief and disappointment, I allowed myself to fall backwards, ending up spread eagle on my bed, clenching my fists in irritation. As much as I had wanted to escape from their searching gazes, it appeared that I had also possessed a faint hope that being there would refresh my memory. But it did not. At least from this trip I would have liked to recover some part of my lost memory, but once again, my mind had thwarted me.

After while, I remembered that I was not the only person involved in this mission and so, regretfully, I dragged myself up off of my silken sheets and ghosted through the corridors until I reached the right door a few second later. Even from out here, could hear the sound of something break. Well, it looked like Rogue was awake.

Silently, I pushed open the door, only to be greeted by four teens suddenly shifting into attack positions in a ring around the entrance, before recognising me and returning to what they had been doing before, though none of them seemed to take any notice of the shattered vase on the floor. Quickly as I could, I closed the door and slipped into my normal place in the shadows by the far window, watching them closely. Ice and Karma were crushed together on a love seat, staring into each other's eyes in a way that was making me feel sick while Rogue was reclining on one of the black sofas in the corner. Gypsy on the other hand, was snickering quietly to herself and I was pretty sure that I didn't want to be on the same planet as what ever it was she was planning judging from the look on her face. In the end, I got bored and cleared my throat, pulling their gazes back to me.

"Guys?"

I was greeted by silent but searching looks as everyone became serious in a second. It was always amazing how quickly this change occurred in them, but I guess they all knew what my mission this morning had been about and so they had been waiting for this.

"We set off tomorrow, We're needed to help a planet at war in the alpha sector."

I saw Rogue's eyes narrow at this. She was not an idiot so I was guessing that she had put together what had just said with all the questions I had been asking before I left. Shifting slightly under her gaze, feeling like one of my prey for once and really not enjoying it, I knew which question she was going to ask before she voiced it.

"Which one?"

Again, I shifted slightly, remaining silent for now, although se had been with us for a long time now, Rogue was originally a Greek demigod from what I had heard, and she hadn't had a very happy life on earth. Even though Rogue was only petite in stature and preferred to hide from her prey before going in for her kill, but even someone as muscled as Ice hated to be near her when she was angry. Still, she was also well known for her unerring perseverance and the ability to make anyone tell her what she wanted. Once again, she asked me, glaring deep into my eyes.

"Which Planet Shade?"

I couldn't help it, something forced me to tell her.

"Earth. We're helping the gods."


	6. Chapter 6

Rogue's PoV:

We all gathered in the throne room in front of our Lord Chaos as we waited for him to send us off. Common practice amongst the Chaos Corps was to receive our Master's blessing before any team was sent out, but today, he seemed to have something different in mind as, when he arrived, Lord Chaos was in his human form, looking like a 20 something year old an in a black suit with raven hair and pure white eyes. Yeah it was kinda creepy.

"Ah, my warriors, I guess it is time for me to send you off."

His eyes flashed as he spoke and amusement coloured his voice, which was when I noticed that he was looking at Shade's face and I blushed bright red. I may have, sorta, lost it a teeny bit when our Captain had told us where we were going, resulting in the rather large black eye Shade now supported. I realised that I could have been in serious trouble for that, attacking the number one assassin in the order, but Shade seemed to have been expecting it, he didn't even try to doge my fist. Not only that, but Chaos seemed to be enjoying the fact that his one, true untouchable soldier had been injured by a simple right hook. That thought made me feel a little better, but I was still fuming about our destination. I hated the earth with a passion, let them all hang for all that I care!

"Rogue!"

That one word snapped me out of my reprieve and my head shot up. Chaos was glaring at me, fantastic! Oh, wait, it looked like he was wanting an answer.

"Yes my Lord?"

"Your face is too easy to read my child. In fact, all of your faces are as open as books. You all may not wish to return to your home, but it is for the best! You will all complete this mission do I make myself clear?"

With shock, I looked around the faces of the others gathered around me and noticed that I was not the only one glaring holes in the floor. Interesting, from the way he said it, we had all come from the same place, and from the faces everyone else was pulling, no one had had a pleasant life before joining up. That however, would have to be an idea explored at a later date, for now, it was time to move.

We all mumbled our "Yes sirs" and rose to our feet, expecting him to send us off with this, but, to all of our surprises, he walked with us towards the door way making us all stop as Ice voiced the question that we were all thinking.

"Um, My Lord?"

That seemed to catch him off guard as much as him following our team had done to us as he seemed a little confused when he looked up from his thoughts, but one glance at our expressions and he seemed to have remembered that this was not his normal behaviour.

"Oh, yes, I thought I told you that I was going with you? Did I not?"

There was a general shaking of heads from the group, even from Shade, our master's right hand man.

"Oh, well, I'm going with you for as long as the introductions and then I am returning after all, every one here knows that the Greeks can be a little… stubborn when it comes to accepting certain things and I wish to avoid any more rash oaths on the river Styx."

Um, what? I'm pretty sure that no one made any oaths on the Styx, after all, they were pretty dangerous promises and we all knew that. Wait… why was Shade… that IDIOT why the Hades would he even think about doing something like that? I guess that I would have to get it out of him later as everyone else was leaving. Still, no need to let it go entirely at the present. Slipping into my place beside him, I grabbed hold of his ear.

"What's this I hear about you making unbreakable oaths?"

As I spoke, I twisted my fingers slightly, making him yelp. Let me say, the entire situation was actually quite fun!

"Um… I'm sowwy?"

How weir to see such a dangerous person smile like a little boy and pout in such a cute way, but I didn't have time for much else as we had reached the portal to earth while faster than I had expected. When he noticed where we were, Shade just pouted and offered his arm to me.

"Once more onto the breach my dear friend?"

I laughed and linked my arm through his as we walked through the portal together, something that was quite normal for us, even though it often freaked the people around us out.

"Fine then, my dear fellow, but don't you dare think that I am dropping the subject."

"Darn!"

We were still laughing at this when we stepped out onto the crest of half-blood hill while the others were giving us a strange looks. I blushed, thankful that I had remembered to pull up my hood at the last second, the same with Shade and the others, so at least they could not see my flaming cheeks. We were spared from the jokes of the other however, when a young boy dropped down from the large pine tree to our left and strode over to us.

"This is private property, what is your business here?"

Private Property? Wow, that was a different way to put it I suppose, it still made me feel like laughing, this guy spoke as though he thought we were human, this means that he must be new to camp as everyone else knew that only people already immersed in the world of Greek "mythology" would even be able to _see_ thecamp, let alone cross the boundary, but one look from Lord Chaos and the laughter died in my throat. Oh yeah, allies, probably not a good idea to irritate them straight off. Instead, I merely bit my tongue and contented myself to study the bark of Thalia's tree, thinking more about the girl I had met many years ago than of the conversation that was happening around me. I wonder how Thals was, the last time I heard, she was the Lieutenant of the hunters, but a lot of things can change over time. I finally came back to our surroundings when everyone else started back down the hill, Shade dragging me along by our joined arms. Oops, what just happened?

"Erm… "

"You zoned out again didn't you?"

"Yeah, I guess. So… what just happened?"

"We have to go down to the big house to have a talk with Chiron and the two camp leaders, Alyssa and Chiorin, who ever they are. Any ideas?"

"Nope, they weren't here when I left, I guess we are going to have to find out. Anything else?"

"Ummm, I think they said that the Roman demigods were coming to join forces with us or something like that. Don't really have a clue about what that means though."

"Again, guess we are going to have to find out. You going to put your assassin face on again?"

"Yup, and so should you!"

"Darn it, I wanted to have some fun at this camp, maybe scare a few of the kids by sneaking up on them!"

"Well, you never know, cold and deadly may be a fun character to play!"

"Maybe… but I doubt it!"

I laughed and joked around with Shade, having as much fun as possible until he would take on the persona he always adopted around other leaders that made him seem cold and heartless, but all the while, I couldn't stop the squeezing sensation in my heart. If the Romans were coming, did that mean that _he _could be here soon? But no, it had been far too long for him to be alive. Still, I couldn't help but hope that he would some… Darn my mother to the very depths of Hades for her genetic traits!

I took a deep breath as we reached the porch of the big house at the base of the hill, preparing myself for what was about to come next. After all these years, I had finally returned to camp and I was pretty sure that this was going to be worse than anything I had ever experienced so far. One more second, and I was pulled through the door and was brought face to face with two people I had never expected to see again. Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena and Clarisse La Rue daughter of Ares, well, I guess we found out who the mysterious leaders are now!


	7. Chapter 7

Alyssa's PoV:

We had been in a meeting with the senior campers when the messenger ran in to inform us of the arrival of our new allies, and, surprisingly, their master as well. For some reason, we had all assumed that Chaos himself would refrain from making an appearance in the war just has he had refused to show himself in the throne room of Olympus, choosing to send his Envoy instead. Still, it was not a bad thing, Lord Chaos was the most powerful being in the history of the universe, so any help that he would offer us would be greatly appreciated. Upon receiving the message, we signalled for the campers to stay in the meeting room and walked to the door to greet our new guests.

Once they had entered, I have to say that I was more than a little surprised, I had expected them all to wear the black cloaks that Shade had when he first appeared, but it seemed that there was no co-ordination to their clothing, as though their uniform wasn't a uniform at all. In fact, the only thing that the 5 teens before me had in common was the fact they all had hoods drawn over their faces, hiding their identities. Other than that, one of them wore pale blue robes, another black jeans and a Gold/Brown hooded top. One of the girls (the shortest one of the five) was in a pure white dress but with a hooded cloak thrown over the top almost like a veil. The final one, the girl who stood arm in arm with shade, wore Robes the colour of fresh blood, it was kind of intimidating!

Deciding that it would be best to start things of as peacefully as possible, I cleared my throat and offered my hand to the only figure whose face could be seen, assuming that it was Lord Chaos as I confirmed when I noticed that the others shifted slightly around him, as though preparing to defend their master. Still, I smiled trying not to let on just how freaked out I was by the deadly Aura they were giving off.

"Hello. My name is Alyssa and I am the co-director of this camp. On the behalf of everyone here, I would like to offer you a warm welcome to Camp Half-blood. I hope that we can get along flawlessly!"

I saw the girl in red shift slightly as I spoke, almost as though she was surprised by something, but I can't see how that would be, unless they had been expecting us to be more hostile to them, but, what ever, nothing I can change without being able to read thoughts. Thankfully, even as I thought that the silence would stretch on for too long, making the whole thing seem rather awkward, the being I assumed to be Chaos gripped my hand and I felt a jolt of power come off of his pale skin, like a static shock you sometimes get from touching a door knob after walking on carpets.

"Ah yes, the recently appointed goddess of loyalty. I have heard great things about you! Yes, I am really looking forward to this truce; I think it will be beneficial for my warriors to return home after so long!"

At the first part of his words, I felt my face grow hot, after all, a compliment coming from the creator of all is quite an accomplishment, but then the second part of what he had said registered in my mind and left me feeling more confused than before. He said that is warriors would be returning home, but that would mean that they were all demigods, originally from here so they were Greek demigods as well. As I processed this new information, I saw (well, I think I did, its so hard to tell when they do not show their faces!) the teens look at each other in surprise, making me believe that this information was new to them as well, though I couldn't see how that would be. Anyway, the silence was stretching on and it would be rude to keep them standing on the door step like that, we had to introduce them to the senior campers as well, the least we could do would be to invite them inside.

"Yes, well, I hope you have a pleasant time here!" Oh, wait, there was a war on, that was _really _not the right thing to say, why am I such an idiot in times like these? "I-I mean … oh, why don't you come inside so that we can introduce you to the campers?"

It came out a lot blunter than I had intended, but it didn't seem to offend them, indeed, Lord Chaos even smiled as though he thought something was amusing, and as I turned to walk back down the hallway, I heard them following me. Chiorin however, decided that that _precise _moment would be a good time to wind me up.

"Nice to see that you are just as eloquent as always. I'm sure that you all but swept them off their feet with your amazing silver tongue Lyssa!"

I ignored her and carried on walking. I had ever really got on well with this particular daughter of Ares, I don't think she ever got over being beaten by a 10 year old girl with a knife against her sword on her first day of camp. I always liked to think that we had got over our past differences now, though that didn't mean that we stopped teasing each other, just… not so much!

When we finally reached the right door, I paused for a second before pushing it forward and striding into the room. Admittedly I was a little nervous, about the whole thing, but the campers seemed to have taken the news well last night at dinner so I don't think that this will be a problem. Sighing slightly once our guests had entered the room, I turned to the 20 or so assorted teenagers that were arranged around and ancient ping-pong table and I spoke to them.

"Senior campers, meet the warriors of Chaos, and the Lord creator of all himself!"

With that, everyone rose and bowed before returning to their seat at a wave of Chaos' hand, I was a bit surprised that even Mahja Skeet, the leader of the Hypnos cabin, though I am guessing someone woke him up when we entered the room. After a moment of silence while no one quite knew what to do with themselves, Chaos stepped forward.

"Ah, it is a pleasure to meet you all young ones, and now I believe that, to make everything seem more comfortable, we should get down to the introductions, so, who would like to go first?"

After that, one by one the campers stood and introduced themselves before returning to their seats until everyone had been up. I guess we had all been expecting things to end there, but to our surprise the teens with Chaos also stepped forwards. First was the boy in the pale blue cloaks.

"Ice." He mumbled the name before hastily stepping back into line as though he was afraid to stand out too much, he was followed by the girl in the hoodie beside him who laughed before she spoke.

"Karma." She was then replaced by the girl in the white dress and her voice shocked me, even though I had noticed her height before, it was still a shock to hear the voice of a young girl come from one of the most potentially dangerous people in the universe.

"My name is Gypsy and it is a pleasure meeting you, I hope we can have fun together!"

Okay, she seemed a little different, no, hyperactive may be the better word for it, but she seemed likeable none the less. After her came the girl in the red with a curt nod of her head she spat out one word before sloughing back into line, unlike the others, this girl, Rogue, seemed to give out an openly hostile vibe as though she hated each and every one of us, but something in her voice was vaguely familiar. However, before I had had much time to ponder this, the figure in Black, Shade stepped forward and introduced himself to everyone who had not been in the throne room.

"My name is Shade and I am the leader of the Chaos Corpse, though I fear that we may have a hard time ahead of us, it is my sincere wish that we can all work well together."

Okay, the way he talked was weird, while the others seemed even slightly up to date with their speech, he seemed like he had stepped straight out of the 16th century. However, as I looked around the assembled demigods, I couldn't help but notice the fact that several of the girls, including Pamela Seers from the Aphrodite cabin, blushed bright red and began to play with their hair nervously. Oh great, it looks like we got ourselves a new camp idol. Like we need one after the last fiasco with the poor Gleeson boy… I was cut off from my thoughts when Chiorin began barking orders at the kids.

"Right guys, now that's over and done with, you're all excused for now, free time until dinner, but do not say a word about what has happened here until we meet again in the pavilion. Hopefully by that time the Romans will have arrived and then we can do the introductions properly! Now, all of you, scram!"

I sighed at the last bit, she had been doing so well up until that part as well, still, even after 2000 years, becoming an immortal goddess, having to change her name and becoming the co-director of camp Half-Blood, it looked like it was still the same old Clarisse I had met all those years ago. Suddenly, a single thought dragged me back to the present as I turned, once again, to face the new arrivals.

"Um… I don't exactly know what you are going to do, especially for lodgings, we haven't had time to make you a cabin, though I guess we could bunk you in with the Hermes lot. Lord Chaos, you, of course, would have a room in here if you wished?"

I am rather ashamed to admit that there was quite a bit of pleading in my eyes as I turned to him at this point, after all, I really had no idea what we were going to do with these new visitors, for that matter, I had even less of an idea of what to do with the Romans when they arrived sometime in the next few hours, so long as Nenyo didn't get them lost while shadow travelling again and they don't end up back in Scotland (long story which lead to the discovery of a camp for Norse demigods)… but thankfully, Lord Chaos seemed to take pity on me, though the first part of his news was a little disappointing, given the current situation.

"Ah, no, I am not staying, I am merely here to make sure that the introductions go smoothly. Anyway, for the accommodation, you do not have to worry about that, I dare say that these five are good enough at manipulating their powers to create somewhere for them to stay, after all, I have spent several long, long, long years training them!"

At this all the warriors laughed and Ice punched Shade's shoulder good naturedly.

"Yeah, I guess we did take quite a while to pick up the whole creation thing, some of us more than others might I add!"

At this, they all started laughing for real and making jokes in languages that I'm pretty sure are not from earth. They carried on like this for a few more minutes before a smirking Chaos decided to pull apart Shade and Ice who were now play wrestling on the floor.

"Now now, behave yourselves, we are guests here so I expect you to behave like civilized human beings. Even if you have to act like it!"

He said this last part while staring at the little girl Gypsy, causing her to giggle even more before he put the two boys back on their feet and led the group out of the door. For a few moments, I just stood there in a stunned silence. I had never expected the warriors of Chaos to be so… normal.


	8. Chapter 8

Taralan's PoV:

I blinked hard as we came out into the bright sunlight of Long Island, stumbling out of the shadow cast by the large oak that used to be my tomb. It always happened. Whenever we shadow travelled anywhere, the journey played havoc with your vision… and balance. I would have fallen if Nenyo hadn't grabbed my shoulder, steadying me before we could. I took a deep breath of the strawberry scented air, trying to settle my stomach, and I relaxed a little. It was so nice to be back home after so long, even if the Legion had put up a fight this morning and now we were much later than we were meant to be. Sighing, I grabbed my partner's hand and pulled it from my arm so that I could hold it as we turned to face a rather disgruntled army.

"Now, some last words to you all. This is the camp of our _ALLIES _so you _will _all behave. You _will _be friendly to the Greek campers and you _will not _cause any unnecessary fighting unless you re attacked first, anyone who disobeys these orders will be punished by me. Do I make myself clear?"

There was some grumbling, but eventually they all nodded the affirmative and we began to wander down Half-blood hill and into camp. Some of the soldiers even managed to put aside their differences long enough to actually appreciate the beauty of the valley, as I could tell by the small gasps that came from behind us. Nenyo and I grinned at each other, this could actually be fun, after all, we had not been at this camp since we took up the position of Legionnaires in Camp Jupiter. Unfortunately we ad not been able to combine the camps as had been our original intention thanks to a certain traitor son of Poseidon… I stopped that thought dead in its tracks as it would not do for me to either destroy something nor burst into tears right now, but it was kind of hard to forget him, the further we walked into camp, the stronger the reminders were all around us. I felt my boyfriends grip tighten and I knew that he was thinking along the same lines as me. Thankfully, it was then that we reached the big house.

"Do we knock or do we just go straight in? We didn't discuss this in the meeting…"

I shot a look at Nenyo's worried face as he whispered this into my ear and I was shocked to see that, even after all of these years, he still managed to look like a nervous little kid who had been sent to the head teacher's office for talking in class. I would have laughed if we did not have our images to keep up, or for the fact that, just that second, I got hit with something that felt like a boulder and I was suddenly blinded by a mop of curly blond hair. Behind me, I heard some of the kids draw their swords and the frantic orders to put them away. Yes it was good to be back but…

"Alyssa… Can't… Breathe!"

"2 more minutes Tarla, I didn't get to hug you on Olympus!"

"Really Lyssa… Can't… Breathe!"

Finally, I managed to pry her off long enough to actually get some air in and I managed to get a good look at her face, noticing a strange light in her silver eyes and the fact that she seemed to be practically unable to stand still, which is hw I knew that the warriors were here already. This was her face when she began planning for battle, one I hadn't seen in such a long time it was almost a shock. Still, I grinned at her enthusiasm.

"I guess they are here then, and now, so are we… sorry we're late, it took a while to get the kids to move and then Nenyo took us on a detour to see the baby seals in Antarctica. Sometimes I swear that I married a girl!"

"HEY, that was an accident and you know it!"

"What? Me marrying you?"

I actually did laugh then when he tackled me to the ground and we began to wrestle, ending up with me sitting on his chest and a madly grinning Alyssa dragging us up to our feet. It was then that the two Praetors stepped forwards, probably thinking that there was no point in leaving this thing to us anymore and deciding to take charge. We all stopped to watch one of them (Lucia Marks, daughter of Fortuna) offer her hand to Chiorin.

"Nice to meet you, I guess we will be in your care for now!"

Gods, she was so formal, she needed to learn to lighten up a bit, but if I had to work with her partner, I guess I would be grouchy too, Mason Grant (son of Janus) was a self centred little…%*&$. Unfortunately, he too decided to step forward and open his irritating mouth.

"So, where are the so called 'Champions of Chaos' who are to be our 'saviours' in this fight that make it so important that we join forces here?"

Was I the only one who wanted to strange this brat? Sometimes I swear that he gives e some sympathy for Mr D when he still had this job (not that I will ever tell him that), but, from what I had seen of Shade earlier, he was one to act without fearing the consequences too much, hopefully he would throttle Mason and make it look like an accident… maybe I should talk to him about that later… after all, he does give off the aura of being a hit man. I was cut off from my murderous plotting by the arrival of 5 hooded figures right behind Alyssa.

"You wished to see us? Here we are child! But I would suggest that you watch your tongue. It would not do well for you to irritate us. Even if we are allies, there can be occasional training accidents, along with other things…"

I nearly started giggling again at the look on our Praetor's face when he took in these words. The speaker was a girl in all white, but who looked no older than around 11 and here she was calling him a _child. _Oh, this was going to be interesting if ever left those two together, I could just see the killing aura coming of off Mason, but the girl merely grinned. Oh, I liked these guys, not only are they serving to annoy him, but they had picked up on my exact thought process about 'accidental deaths' the second they had arrived. Attempting to create at least a tiny bit of a friendly atmosphere between us, I smiled at the girl.

"Nice to meet you, and you can be sure that he will not talk like that again, we will make sure of it. My name is Taralan, Legionnaire of Camp Jupiter, who might you be?"

She looked about to answer, but the girl in the red cloak slipped her hand over the other's mouth, silencing what ever she was about to say. The older girl then began to speak in her stead.

"We are the personal Assassins of Lord Chaos, though our introductions must wait until everyone is gathered. We do not wish to repeat ourselves any more times than necessary."

That caught Alyssa's attention as she turned to the girl with an expression of curiosity on her face.

"Um… Rogue is it?"

The girl nodded curtly but gave no other answer as though she thought it all beneath her.

"I thought Lord Chaos told you to introduce yourselves to everyone? He didn't seem to mind having to repeat himself. Actually... where is he? I don't see him anywhere."

The girl's, no Rogue's, lip curled up at this into a smirk as though she found the situation amusing but at the same time, did not want to be here. I wonder what her problem was?

"Our Master is gone, he returned home shortly after we finished setting up our campsite as he has other matters to attend to. As to the first matter you mentioned, we have our own judgement and are able to make our own decisions. We will not introduce ourselves until later as it would be a more efficient way of doing things!"

With that, they all walked off, paying no more attention to us, like they didn't even care that they were annoying an entire army and there were only 5 of the. Unless what Shade had said earlier was true, they were incredibly cocky. I turned away from the direction they were heading as Nenyo shot a grin at Alyssa.

"Well, aren't they pleasant?"

"Oh, I know, they are just simply charming, but now you guys need to come with me and Rin, we need to decided where your campers are going to stay before Dinner which will be in…" She checked her watch, "40 minutes."

And with that, we all followed her through the large doors around the back of the house leading us into a room where Chiron was sitting by the fire in his wheelchair. He turned to us when he heard us come in, and with one look at his ancient yet kindly face, it felt as though we had never left!


	9. Chapter 9

Shade's PoV:

After talking to the newly arrived Roman army, we had returned to the campsite we had set up earlier with the help of Master Chaos. We all had our own tents which echoed each person's personality on the inside, but were just small, black, one man things on the outside, each of them set up in a circle around the fire that was flickering lilac. Don't ask me how we got the flames that colour, but it did look cool. Now we all sat around its warmth, hoods drawn back and enjoying the streams of sunlight that were filtering through the rocks around us. We were not scared of people seeing our faces, the campsite had been specifically chosen so that it was hidden and quite hard to get to if you didn't have the climbing abilities we all possessed.

Right now, everyone had gone back to doing what they did best so, for Ice and Karma, that was eating each other's faces. Seriously, for the last 600 years, those two have been practically inseparable and it was wearing on all of our last nerves. Unfortunately, acting normal also meant that Gypsy was running around like the little kid we all knew she was, her midnight hair streaming down her back, reflecting strange colours as she danced around the clearing, singing Queen songs at the top of her voice, changing the lyrics when ever she forgot the words.

I sighed and fell back on the grass, content to watch the skies for now, it was not often that we got a time of peace after all and the entire situation was incredibly relaxing, especially as Rogue had gone off somewhere and wasn't trying to fight with me anymore (a venture that she always lost!) so I actually had some free time to just kick back and just enjoy the quiet…

"_I'm burning through the skies Yeah!__  
__Two thousand degrees__  
__That's why they call me Missus Fahrenheit__  
__I'm trav'ling at the speed of light__  
__I wanna make a supersonic mushroom of you_"

I couldn't help it, I laughed at that last line just as she knew I would, not only was she singing badly off key, Gypsy was also getting bored of the song and so she was changing the words to make it more interesting. It was a childish prank, but it was just so like her that it made us all laugh. Gypsy was like the hyperactive little sister that I had never wanted, but still thought was cute; she tended to have that effect on people. No one could really dislike her and thought that she was completely harmless, until they saw her hit a bulls eye from 500 meters away and hanging upside down from a swaying tree branch. Although she didn't look it, that girl was lethal, and the oldest on in the team.

Slight cussing from somewhere off to the left of my head indicated that Rogue was back. Oh goodie! Pushing myself up onto my elbows, I tipped my head back so that I could see her, albeit she was upside down, but I had learned long ago never to turn my back on that girl.

Blinking her long, chocolate brown locks out of her eyes, Rogue glared playfully at me and I couldn't help but smirk back at her. Out of all the other's in the team, she was the one I was closest to, and I had a feeling that she knew more about my missing past than she ever let on. Still, I had not completely forgiven her for the punch last night yet so I thought that a little teasing was in order.

"Have a little trouble getting up here Beauty Queen?"

My smile broadened as she stiffened, her glare turning from playful to a steel knife aimed right into my face, tempered only by her slight look of panic that she was trying to hide.

"_What _did you just call me?"

"Um… Beauty Queen I think, no idea where that came from though!"

She continued to glare at me for a few more seconds before she was grabbed and pulled away by Gypsy who began swinging her around in circles screaming '_If you wanna have a good time,__Just give me a call' _at the top of her voice in between her giggles. Before long, Rogue was laughing along with the rest of us and the mood went back to normal, leave it to the brat to make everyone get along again, though I guess that was her specialty just like Patience was Ice's, the rest of us had yet to find ours.

Amongst all the other units in Chaos' army, we were known as the flaws, the ones that didn't belong in any of the other sections and weren't actually members. In all actuality, we were all just on lone to Lord Chaos and served a different mistress altogether, though I will not mention her name here as all ancient names hold power, hers more than most. In the end, I ended up going back to cloud gazing until a certain 10 year old girl ran over to me:

"Cummon Shade, lets go plaaaay!"

She whined, her caramel eyes staring into my pleadingly as she pouted. Ugh, why was I beginning to feel like a babysitter… or an over worked parent? Still, I tried for a different tactic.

"I thought Rogue was playing with you, go bot- I mean talk, to her!"

"But she went back to her tent. Stop being lazy and come play with meeeeeeeeeee!"

She pouted even more, pulling a face like a puppy (something she had learned off of an old T.V sitcom she became addicted to about 20 years ago) and started trying to pull me to my feet by yanking on my hand. Thankfully before she could force me into doing something annoying, the sound of a conch shell being blow signaled that it was time for dinner and I sprung to my feet.

"Guys, time to go, I think we need to go to the pavilion we saw earlier to get some food!"

"Awwwww, but I wanna play!"

I sighed and pet her on the head before saying something that I knew I was going to regret in the near future.

"I'll play with you later, but for now, we need to go!" I thought about it for a second as everyone gathered in front of my so that we could go down to dinner, and I added a side note before we set off "Oh, and put your hoods up, Chaos said not to show our identities to anyone unless it was absolutely necessary."

======== LINE BREAK=========

It took us a good 5 minutes to finally reach the place where all the campers gathered and I couldn't help but observe that, even with the addition of the Roman troops, they only had around 700 people and a few of those were too young to fight. No wonder Lord Chaos sent us here to aid them, they were at a huge disadvantage by the looks of things. Also, my scan of the room informed me that there were several adults up at the long table. Hmm, it looked like the gods had come to oversee things. After all, I don't think that they would actually come to have dinner with their children every evening. Noticing our arrival, the girl from earlier, Alyssa I think her name was, beckoned us up to the front and I sighed. I had forgotten the fact that we had only introduced ourselves to some of the demigods, which would explain the multitude of strange looks that were being sent our way. Grudgingly, we complied, and soon, we were all gathered in front of the gods, and the campers. Wasting no time, the centaur we had seen earlier called for attention.

"Now, as you are all aware campers, this is a time of great need and, as such, we have now gathered together all of our allies!"

A loud cheer went up at this, though I couldn't help but notice that the Romans seemed to be shooting looks at the Greeks which suggested that they were not happy with being here, even if they were getting such a warm welcome. When the noise dropped again, Chiron continued.

"Yes, now, I think we should all give a friendly camp half-blood greeting to our Roman friends." He gestured towards the table were said group of demigods were arranged, looking thoroughly uncomfortable as yet another cheer went up. "And to our new allies, the warriors of Chaos!" Now he pointed to us and a look of understanding flashed across the faces of many of the assembled teens, accompanied by a look of fear that was quite funny, but then one of the gods had to speak and ruin my fun.

"Yes, yes, that is all well and good, now I think it is time that our new _friends _introduce each other, don't you think?"

I thought back my desire to glare at the Queen of the sky at her comment and instead, motioned for ice to step forwards, to my surprise, he gave a little more information than I was expecting.

"My name is Ice, a member of the Chaos Corps, S rank Assassin, and a son of Selene."

There were mumbles of shock at this, Selene had faded many years ago and if he was her son, then he must have been a lot older than I thought he was. Next up was Karma.

"My name is Karma, a member of the Chaos Corps, S rank Assassin, and a daughter of Chronos, Primordial god of time."

I grinned at the reaction the name Chronos brought about in the demigods who were from an age when his name had been mixed up with Kronos who was a villain. I already knew this one, it was kind of obvious when the girl in question had a habit of playing around with the time stream around a certain person if she was mad at them. Unfortunately, I had been on the receiving end of those fits more times than I would have hoped. Next, Gypsy strode forward, a playful tone in her voice as she spoke.

"The name's Gypsy, a member of the Chaos Corps, Lieutenant rank Assassin, and a demigod, though I don't feel like telling who my father is."

I fought the urge to laugh at some of the disappointed looks on the faces of the kids and curious looks on the face of the gods, they were trying to figure out whether she is their daughter I expect. The next up was Rogue.

"Rogue, a member of the Chaos Corps, Vice-Captain rank Assassin. My mother shall remain unmentioned."

I sighed slightly at her cold demeanor, beginning to realize just how much she hated this planet. I had never heard her talk like this before, I wonder what had happened to her here to bring out such a reaction, but I didn't have long to ponder this as it was now my turn.

"My name is shade, Commander of the Chaos Corps, Captain rank Assassin and adopted son of Chaos. Now I believe that the introductions are over so we shall return to our camp, if that is alright with you?"

I looked at Alyssa as I spoke, but it was a voice from behind me that answered.

"But you told us next to nothing, how do we know if we can trust you if you don't even trust us with small bits of information? Why don't you just show us your faces at least?"

I span round and glared at the speaker until I realized that it had been a young daughter of Demeter, a small girl around 8, so when I spoke, it was in a much softer tone than everyone had been expecting.

"We share so little because it is part of who we are. We keep secrets, yet we mean you no harm. It is our job to remain in shadows and, for that, we do not have identities of pasts that we can tell you other than our code names and rank in the army."

She sighed, still looking disappointed, but I guessed from the way that she slouched into her brother's side, that she had given up the chase, unfortunately, there was someone else with something to add before we could escape. Chiorin, the other leader of this camp grinned as she turned to the campers.

"I don't know heroes, they say that, but I have one thing left I want to see. I don't really know what you all think, but I for one, want to see them fight to decided whether or not they are any good, with my own eyes!"

At that, another loud cheer went up and I quickly glanced down the line of my comrades. Funnily enough, they had all adopted similar expressions to me. Wide grins filled with malice.

This was going to be interesting, but if they were going to make us fight, then we might as well give them a show!


	10. Chapter 10

Alyssa's PoV:

Gah, why did the idiot have to suggest that we _fight _them, we're supposed to be allies for Zeus' sake! It looked like I was the only one thinking sanely at that time however, because everyone else around me had to be smiling, or cheering, or both. Even my mother looked as though she didn't mind the suggestion and se was supposed to be _wise! _Why didn't anyone understand that fighting was not a good way to build a friendship from scratch, let alone pitting yourselves against the people who were potentially the strongest warriors in the universe, this was mental.

I glared at Chiorin as she sat down, but she just smiled at me in a way that obviously conveyed the fact that she had won. As if I wouldn't noticed that for crying out loud, I'm not an idiot! Deciding to keep my thoughts to myself as I knew they would do no good, I remained silent and returned to my food. At least the savages had decided to eat first, but it looked like the Assassins had already slipped away, saying they wanted to go check out the sword fighting arena and set a few things up. For once, dinner actually finished quickly as everyone was excited to see the promised fight, even the gods were smiling evily, though I wasn't even going to ask what that was about.

Before long, we had all gathered and walked down to the arena but, for some reason, the kids at the front were refusing to go in, deciding instead to just stand there and stare at the door. Grumbling about why it was me who had to do this, I pushed my way through to the front of the crowed so that I could see what was causing the hold up, to my surprise, it was two of the kids from earlier, Ice and Karma, standing with swords crossed against the entrance and grinning back at the crowd. I found that last part the most disturbing. Earlier, in the pavilion, it had been impossible to see their faces, but now we could see their mouths easily. Just what the Hades did that mean? Saving me from having to think my way through everything, the boy spoke.

"Okay, you want to see how we fight right?" There was a general murmur of consensus amongst the crowd and I fought back a sigh, idiots! "Well, we set up a little demo in the arena, a test so to speak so we can assess your abilities while you assess ours, but we're gonna have to ask the Olympians to fight us cause we don't really want to kill anyone so close to a war."

That intrigued everyone, Ares in particular looked as though he was brimming with excitement, he was even bouncing up and down which was weird, but then, he was the god of war so I guess this was his element. Finally having enough of not knowing what was going on (and probably intrigued by the thought of a test she had yet to take) my mom stepped forwards.

"You say this is a test child, so do you mean that there are rules? What is it that you wish for us to do?"

The girl, karma, grinned at this and I'm pretty sure that I got glimpse of golden eyes underneath her hood which was more than a little unsettling, but when she spoke, she sounded sincere and… respectful? I have to say, I was not expecting that!

"But of course, Lady Athena, there are rules which is why we are out here. There are 6 gods allowed to compete, but you are going to have to fight one at a time, if you agree of course. Shade, Rogue and Gypsy are hidden somewhere in the arena and the second one of you steps into the fighting area, the battle will begin. Everyone else has to remain in the stands. You are allowed to use powers, pets and weapons and… errr I forgot the last one."

Ice sighed, but he did not seem really annoyed. Instead he simply pulled her to his side and finished for her. "As everyone fighting is immortal, once you are touched in the place with a weapon that would kill you if you _were _mortal, then you lose. Other than that, you can go all out and do whatever you want."

I stared at him in shock, what the two of them just proposed was that three people were going to take on 6 of the Olympian council (admittedly, only one at a time, but still!) and they were letting them do practically anything they wanted… either these guys were insane, or they were ridiculously powerful. I shot a look at the gods, wanting to see what their reactions to this would be, but they were all deep in counsel… one that was getting quite heated by the looks of it. Finally, they broke apart and Ares cheered.

"Alright, you punks got yourselves a deal, but if we win, you have to show your faces!"

I really didn't like the look on Ice's face at this, and the way he spoke the next words spent a chill down my spine. Surely he could have guessed that the god of war would be one of the contenders and so they could never win, but he didn't seem scared, instead, he appeared to be laughing.

"Okay, that's good for us. So, everyone else, would you like to go get a seat in the arena and the person going first will have to stay here until everyone is settled. Oh, and does anyone want to be the referee?"

He talked like this whole thing was a football game, nothing big, or dangerous at all. If it really was arrogance, then that would soon be sorted, no matter how strong they are, there was no way they would be able to take down the gods, the only person I had seen to ever scratch Ares alone was…

Again I cut off my thought as I followed the capers into the arena, looking around to see that most of the gods were following us and I grinned at the one going first. No matter what they had planned in that arena, they were never going to win. Still smirking, I took a seat near the front, right next to the fighting stretch and finally looked around to see what they had done, but the sight that greeted me was nothing short of a surprise. Feeling slightly dazed, I leaned across to Taralan who was sitting next to me as Chiron walked onto the field (he had volunteered to referee.)

"Is it me, or have they done absolutely nothing to this arena? I don't even sense any traps?"

She shook her head and went back to surveying the area as though she expected a mountain to suddenly bloom out of the earth, but then, these kids did work for Chaos, so it wouldn't be all that surprising.

As all the seats began to fill up, I started scanning around for a completely different reason, no matter how hard or often I looked, I still couldn't find a single trace of the three who were supposed to be in here already… was this all a trick or did they really have something planned. Behind me, I felt Zeus begin to grow inpatient.

"When is this blasted thing going to start, we've been sat in here going on half an hour, look the sun is even going to go down if they don't hurry this up!"

With a start, I realised that he was right, we had been seated in here for much longer than I thought, but before another second could pass, I felt someone appear on the bench next to me and I turned to find Ice leaning against the rail.

"Oh, not much longer now, I expect, but we were kind of waiting for the sun to go down, Shade said that we needed to show off our true powers and he is strongest at night, so is Gypsy… and me for that matter, but that's for a completely different reason."

I gave him a weird look when he finished and began reclining on the bench as though this was the best thing in the world. He just looked so calm it was unreal. I was about to turn away when another thought struck me.

"Aren't you going to be fighting, and Karma. Why are you just leaving it to those three?"

I noticed that everyone around us had been listening in to the conversation when they all jumped at his laughter and glared at him until he answered, clutching the girl beside him closer to his side.

"Nah, three against one is a bit much, though I expect they will only go one at a time for as long as possible. We were tired and not needed so we are here as narrator thingies… um, what are they called again?"

"Announcers." Came the clear voice from his side.

"Oh yeah, we're the announcers, so, if you have any questions at any time during the fight, don't hesitate to ask!"

At that, I saw my mom's eyes widen as she was about to take him up on that offer, but before she could even begin to utter a word, the boys head spun towards the door that had just been opened at the other end of the field and he cheered.

"Whoooooo, let the games begin!"

We all sighed and leaned back as the first to fight entered the arena and I pulled out a notebook. Might as well make a record of this for future reference and anyway, this could be a good game… possibly.

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***Important, please read before killing Author!***

**A/N: Okay, please don't murder and/or torture me for ending it there *hides under table* I know you were all expecting a fight scene, but this is where I decided to end it, I thought it was more interesting. Anyway, the next few chapters are going to be completely dedicated to the competition (but I'm not sayin how many cause some are longer than others) anyway, first person to guess who the first god up is, I will dedicate the next chapter to you and create you an OC in the camp to look out for so, good luck!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Okay, I thought that it might be a bit longer before I updated again, but it looks like I was wrong. A big WELL DONE to the GUEST to whom this chapter is dedicated, however, as I do not have a way to contact you, I can't really arrange details of a demigod, but, this chapter is for you! The correct answer was… just read on and find out :P **

**P.S. it is going to remain in ALYSSA'S POV for the duration of the tournament, enjoy!**

* * *

I was watching the arena intently for any movement as soon as Lady Artemis stepped out into the field, but as far as I could see, there were still no changes. Squinting to focus, I did another sweep of the arena, but there was still nothing, so I lent over and poked Ice in the ribs, immediately grabbing his attention.

"Hmm?"

"Why is nothing happening, you said that the match started as soon as the fighter entered?"

I don't really get the joke, but as soon as I finished speaking, both of the Assassins beside me cracked up. It made me feel like I had just said something stupid, a feeling that I really did not appreciate and I'm pretty sure that I started scowling as the teens quickly shut up (either that or it was the growls coming from the gods behind us… my guess is the latter.) Without another word, Karma just grinned and pointed towards the floor. I can't say for sure, but I think that she was pointing at the shadows, though I don't know why she would be. My face must have remained blank as she soon sighed and explained.

"It's Shade. Looks like he decided to go first!"

Again, noticing my completely confused face, she pointed more forcefully at where Artemis' shadow fell close to the stands elongated by the light of the setting sun so that it was much taller than the 12 year old form of the goddess, but something seemed off about the shape. I just couldn't place my finger on it though…

"We don't get our codenames for nothing you know!"

It was the words of Ice that helped me finally place what was wrong. The shadow was too long, from the angle of the sun, the darkness shouldn't stretch that far. I heard a gasp from behind me, looks like my mother had just noticed it too. I remained sitting there, gapping at the shadow and trying to figure it out wile the two beside me went back to laughing, the note book in my hand completely forgot as I tried to work out why this technique could possibly be useful, but before I could get to any conclusion, Apollo quickly rose to his feet and started yelling.

"SIS, DON'T LET THE SHADOWS MEET!"

At first I didn't understand what he was on about until I saw that the strange shadow was getting longer, stretching towards the patch of shade beneath the stands, reaching out as though it wanted to be joined with the larger patch of darkness. As I worked this out, I felt a chill run through me, although we didn't know exactly what would happen if they did touch, the stillness of everyone around me suggested that we all knew it would be bad. Quick as a flash, Artemis looked our way, noticed the problem and she was off, all you could see was a patch of silver blurring around the arena. We all breather a collective sigh of relief, at least that danger was gone.

Looking a little perturbed, Zeus lent forwards and touched Nenyo's shoulder.

"What was that, and what would have happened if they had met?"

Oh, yeah, Nenyo was a son of Hades, he should know about darkness magic, but that thought just made it all the scarier when his face paled.

"I-I don't know… it looked like something I've read about, but I don't think even dad could do that spell, it is really, really dangerous…"

We lost him to his mutterings after that, but thankfully, Ice picked up where he had left off, and evil look dancing in his eye.

"If you're thinking of Shadow Manipulation, then you're right kid. That's Shade's main method of fighting. If a person using that spell touches a part of your shadow, they gain control over that part of the body, which is why he was aiming for the head, then he could have made her 'kill' herself. Now… well, now I guess we are going to have to watch them fight it out!"

He seemed almost ecstatic at the thought, but just then, Artemis stopped. Glaring around herself she suddenly shouted into the shadows next to Chiron.

"Get out here now child, I can sense where you are and this game of hide and seek has gone on for far too long. Show yourself and fight with honour, none of these cheap tricks!"

Oops, looks like she switched into Diana mode, but it did the trick. A collective gasp came from the audience as the hooded figure of Shade seemed to materialise out of the shadows, making Chiron almost jump a mile. Still, the boy just grinned from what I could see, as he strode out to meet the angry goddess. Though his limbs remained tense as though he was ready to run, he held no weapon in his hands which were raised, palm up as he spoke.

"You tell an Assassin to leave the shadows and fight with honour? But you managed to escape my trap so I guess I will indulge you in this for your reward."

For a few seconds, they remained thus, both of them staring down the other, Artemis' hands clamped around the handles of her silver hunting knives and Shade's hanging loosely by his sides. A faint breeze blew though the open door of the arena and then she struck. Moving faster than any mortal would be able to follow, the goddess of the moon darted forwards, blades aimed at the boys chest and head with a momentum that would be impossible to block, but just before they found their target, her enemy vanished into smoke.

Confused, she paused for a minute and we all saw a figure step out of the darkness behind her, but her reflexes were sharpened from many years in the hunt and she heard his approach, spinning round just in time to deflect the pitch black blade of a sword that had been aimed at her heart.

This carried on for a long while and it didn't look like it was going to end soon, every time it looked like one side would take the upper hand, something would happen to bring them back level:

Shade was stumbling back towards the outer edge of the arena when Artemis' foot slipped in the wet earth.

Artemis lost control of one of her daggers as she whirled around, but Shade's robes had caught in the edge of the arena, giving her the time it took to recover her grip.

Again and again the two figures collided, sparks flying from the metal on metal contact before the force of their own momentum pushed them away again, only for them to spring back together for another shot. All the way through, Karma and Ice didn't stop laughing, but I couldn't blame them, it was very intriguing to watch, but even as the time went on, it became obvious that Artemis was tiring. Every step she took held less and less of her former grace and, when their blades clashed again, one of her knives went flying off to the far end of the arena, leaving her with only one 6 inch knife against a meter long sword. The desperation in her next move was clear as day.

Moving so fast that not even a blur could be seen, she ducked under his arm, extended for the lunge she had just dodged, clasped it above the elbow and used Shades own momentum to flip him over onto his back, sending his blade clattering across the floor away from him as he hit the ground heavily. I winced, that had got to hurt!

Smirking slightly at her victory, Artemis stepped forwards, brandishing her knife in preparation to deliver the finishing blow of the match, but she made the mistake of pausing to push her hair behind her ear with her free hand so that she could see better. That one second was all that he needed, moving almost as fast as she had before, Shade arched up onto his shoulders and kicked the blade out of her hand, sending the silver dagger straight up into the air where it span and started to descend back to the earth at a deadly pace. But he was waiting for it. While the goddess was still in shock at what had happened, the assassin had regained his feet and shot out a hand to clasp the weapon. A fraction of a second later, the cold silver was pressed up against the owner's neck while her back was pressed up against the wall separating the field from the stands.

A breath second of silence filled the arena as everyone took in the scene in front of them, the Olympians were particularly shocked. Artemis had fought her hardest yet the son of Chaos had not even broken a sweat by the looks of it. Suddenly remembering his role in the whole match, Chiron shook himself out of his stupor to announce the end of the match.

"It looks like this fight is over… the winner is Shade!"

With those words, it was like a dam had burst, finally letting all the noise out that had been held back by surprise. As the crowd roared with appreciation for a good fight, I watched the assassin return the daggers to the fuming moon goddess before fading back into the shadows. When Artemis returned, her brother slipped an arm around her.

"Sooooo, how'd it go?"

With a yelp like a puppy, Apollo fell to the ground clutching his… yeah, and Artemis took her seat. Turning instead to stare pointedly at the door where the next Olympian stepped out into the field, giving me, and most other people a shock. No one had been expecting this turn of events that's for sure. Behind me, the 11 other Olympians grinned.

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**A/N: Okay, same rules as before, only this time, you have 11 names to go at instead of 12. Yet another well done to the guest who guessed Artemis. I wonder who is going to get the chapter next time? (A note of warning however, this one is rather hard. Think of the gods that don't like fighting, it may help you out a little!) **


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: heyyyy, this time, the Chapter is for SOL SPELL DIGGORY who was the first with the right answer of… anyway, WELL DONE! This chapter is for you! thank you all for your support and for everyone else who posted their guess, I wish you some more luck in the next round and I hope you all enjoy the new chapter!**

To the surprise of practically everyone in the arena (except for the gods, but they don't count as they had already decided the line up before) Lady Aphrodite was the next person to step onto the field, decked out in the golden armor of the Romans and a long sword resting leisurely in her left hand. Hmm I never knew that she was left handed, but the fact that she wanted to take part in these games was not such a big shock for all the immortals. After losing her two favorite daughters in the last two wars, she had vowed on the Styx that she would be able to protect her children the next time there was conflict. All around the stadium, you could see some of the boys almost drooling at her warrior princess image, but I just sighed and leaned back in my seat, waiting to see just how effective her training over the last few millennia had been, after all she DID have the best tutor. Behind us, Ares wolf whistled.

"That's my girl, you can do it sweet heart!"

Okay, is it just me that found the words 'sweet heart' a little strange coming from the mouth of the war god? Anyway, more interesting for me would be who her opponent was. From what Ice had said, this was a way for the Assassins to showcase their abilities and, as Shade had just fought, it would have to be one of the other 3 who were hidden around the arena… Gypsy or Rogue, I wonder who will fight…

We waited for a short time, everyone looking around eagerly to see who the next combatant would be, but, just like before, there was no change to anything you could see. Thinking that it may be the same as before where you had to know what you were looking for to actually notice it, I started to ask the Assassins beside me, but Karma cut me off, shaking her head.

"No, I know what you are going to ask and the answer is no. From the time between Lady Aphrodite entering the fighting zone and the response, we're guessing that Rogue is going to be the one fighting now and her ability is something really different to what Shade can do, but even we don't know what she's going to do so it would be best for us to just sit and watch the fight. No matter what she decides, you are definitely in for a t- "

Right then the girl was cut off by a bright light that filled the whole arena, blinding everyone after the muted tones of the late evening. By the time my vision finally cleared, I noticed that Taralan and Nenyo looked as though they were about to pass out, following their line of sight, I soon found out why.

Lying there, in the very centre of the field, was a teenage girl in battle mangled, bronze armor, her tanned skin covered in cuts and bruises and her long, brown hair spreading out on the ground around her like a chocolate Halo. Even from this distance, I could tell that she was beautiful, but that was not what stole my breath from my lungs, no, I knew that girl, it was Piper!

The silence was like a spell hanging over the whole area and I felt like I was going to cry. Piper had died in the last Giant War, but we had never found her body. Nico confirmed that she was dead, but that her soul had not entered the underworld. That was part of the reason why he took the role of Nenyo, the god of lost souls, to search for our missing friend. I was lost in thoughts of the past for a short moment, but was yanked straight back to the present when she moved. Groaning slightly, Piper lifted her head from the ground and looked around herself.

"W-what happened? Where am I?"

At the sound of her voice, the tears that I had been holding back began to stream down my face at the thought that one of my closest friends, one that I had lost on the battle field, was now before us and perfectly fine. The worst one effected was Aphrodite who burst into hysterical sobs.

"Piper… oh my poor baby, are you okay?"

Looking slightly dazed, our friend pushed herself up into a seated position and looked around, her gaze finally locking onto the weeping form of the goddess and she smiled slightly. I almost choked when I took in her appearance, she looked exactly the same as when she had died, but then, how could she be here? Pushing herself onto her knees, Piper turned to look at her mother.

"Mom? But… hang on, how am I in the arena, I thought we were still in Greece… What happened with the war?"

I shot a look at Nenyo, trying to get some answers, but he just shrugged, looking as perplexed as the rest of us so, wondering if this was a trick, I swapped my gaze to the teens on my other side, only to see them looking totally perplexed. Okay, so if they didn't know what was going on, did that mean that this was real? I sure hope it did. All of a sudden, Aphrodite ran towards her daughter, dropping her sword in the process and wrapping her arms around Piper who just relaxed into them, looking exhausted as the goddess continued to sob into her shoulder.

"I-it's okay now sweetie, it's okay. You're safe now and we won the war! You don't need to fight anymore."

Over the shoulder of the goddess, I suddenly saw Pipers face twist into an evil grin, but just as quickly as I thought it was there, it vanished. Still, I felt uneasy, this was perfect… too perfect, but before my suspicions could go too far, she asked a question that returned my attention to the gaping hole in my heart.

"Where's Percy, is he okay?"

Those 5 words, spoken in little more than a whisper, were enough to silence the hushed mutterings that had been circulating the arena. Although none of the campers had ever met Piper Mclean, the daughter of Aphrodite, they had been shown her picture as it hung in the hallway of the big house, so they recognized her as the heroine from many of the tales we told around the campfires. They also, however, recognized the name Percy Jackson and all that went with it, hence the fact that they all hardly dared to breathe. For once the entire camp fell so silent you would not expect for it to be inhabited by the living as everyone stared at the two women in the middle of the stadium. Finally, Aphrodite decided to break the silence.

"W-well, y-your friend P-percy, he-"

But before she could even get the words out, some shift in her position cause Piper to turn stark white and look as though she was about to pass out and I gasped, jumping to my feet. If this really was Piper, and it was her straight from the middle of the last war, then she was really badly injured and needed to be treated now, but even as Aphrodite went to scoop her up off of the floor, she found the blade of a pitch black dagger pressed against her throat. Smiling darkly, Piper spoke in a voice that was full of malice, giving us all a shock.

"Yeah, I know what Perce did and, frankly, I don't blame him! Better do what he did than stay and support you pathetic excuses of deities, you especially _mother! _To be honest, I think I should have joined him, after all, what did you idiots ever do for me? "

As she spoke, she pushed the blade deeper into the throat of Aphrodite until a thin line of gold began to glisten in the fading light, but I knew that that wasn't the problem, the real damage was being done inside the goddess, in her mind, just as it was hurting us, it must be agonizing to hear the words from your own daughter. Before long, the goddess of love was laying, curled up on the floor, crying harder than I had ever seen her do before (and I had been with her when she finally read the last Harry Potter book.) Still smirking slightly, Piper rose fluidly to her feet before beginning to walk away, as she passed Chiron however, she stopped, and her figure began to flicker before revealing that it was actually… Rogue. I sighed and slumped back into my seat, slightly disappointed. Of course, the real Piper had died long ago. Pausing briefly to look back at the broken goddess, Rogue turned once again to Chiron.

"I believe that I win this round!"

And with that she vanished into the surroundings of the arena once again. Beside me, Ice sighed.

"I thought as much the second the girl arrived." He was rubbing his eyes, but then he turned back to me. "Who was that anyway, it looked like you knew her?"

I cringed slightly at his question, still trying to patch up the hole in my heart that had reopened after all these years as I answered.

"Piper Mclean, daughter of Aphrodite. She was our friend but she died in the last Giant War. What was that though? You don't seem so surprised anymore."

Beside him, Karma groaned and looked back at me with apologetic eyes as she spoke.

"That's Rogue's ability. If she looks into your eyes then she can see everyone you ever loved and all those who died, then she can mimic them perfectly. It helps to get the enemy off guard before actually finishing them, after all, who would expect their close friends and family to kill them? She spent so long looking into the goddess' past, trying to find a person to use and I guess she decided on that girl."

"That was harsh!"

"I know, that's why it surprised us. Normally Rogue is a nice person, but something happened to her when she lived on this planet and now she hates it here. When she gets angry, she turns cruel. We are so sorry about it…"

She trailed off as though she couldn't think of anything else to say, and I turned my attention back to where Ares was now helping his hysterical girlfriend out of the arena. Behind me, the gods were grumbling in annoyance and discomfort over the new revelation, but I noticed that one of them was missing. Looks like the next one up to bat had already left to prepare, I just hoped that he would be careful…

**A/N: Okay, cruel I know, but… well… okay I don't really have an excuse. Anyway, the same terms stand as last time, who will win the next chapter? Good luck with your guesses!**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Okay, this chapter's winner was Ingradera, so a big thank you to her and everyone else who entered the contest. So, on with the chapter!**

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For once, as he entered the arena, Lord Hermes was not supporting his signature grin that made everyone instantly place their hands over their wallets, instead, like all of us, he looked cautious, but I can't blame him for that. After all, what would we do if Luke suddenly appeared in the middle of the field? There was no way any of us were even remotely prepared for that. Noticing me tense, Ice leaned over looking confused.

"What are you worried about, we're not going to hurt him, there is a war coming soon you know and it wouldn't be wise to h arm our allies!"

I just shook my head at his words, not able to find the words to express my opinions correctly, after all, the god of thieves was fast, the last thing I was worried about was him getting hurt. Seemingly reading my expression when I failed to answer, Karma gasped.

"Oh, You're worried about Rogue's ability… don't worry, if I'm right, its Gypsy's turn now, you guys might actually win one this time."

And with that reassuring statement, she turned back to watch the match just in time to see something flash out of the trees at the far end of the stadium, landing exactly where the god had been standing just seconds before. As we looked closer, we all saw that it was… an apple? Beside me, I heard Ice sigh and start laughing slightly, muttering something in a language I didn't know, but, before I could ask, another apple came flying at Hermes while his back was turned, hitting him square in the back of the head. That was strange, I thought they were going to fight one at a time, so why were the apples coming from two completely different places?

When he actually turned to see the apple, the god of thieves shocked us all by cracking up laughing as he pulled a sticky note off of the green surface. Then, for no apparent reason, he started running round the arena, picking up speed with every step, his grin returning, something which I didn't know whether to be pleased or scared about. Noticing that the two beside me had doubled over in silent laughter, I immediately turned to them, but it was Apollo who asked the question we were all thinking.

"What was on the note?"

The sudden sound behind them made the assassins jump slightly, but they both turned to the gods shaking their heads slightly, wide grins visible underneath the shadows of their hoods. Still laughing, Karma was the one to speak.

"Knowing Gypsy, and this is definitely her work, it was probably something like 'tag' or 'you're it.' I think she is treating this like a game 'cause none of us will play with her anymore."

Again they turned back to the arena, but I don't see why they even bothered because all I could see when I checked were two shadowing flashing around the place, moving too quickly for me to make out who was which. The Ares kids in the seats at the far end of the arena started jeering, complaining that they wanted to see how the assassins fought, not how good they were at running away, but, before the chant of 'fight, fight, fight' could be taken up by the other campers, the shadow in front tumbled over something and landed spread eagle on the floor. Smiling broadly, Hermes walked over to the girl as she lay panting on the ground, and pointed his caduceus at her throat and making her freeze as she stared up at him. Returning to his laughter, Hermes leant down and pulled her two her feet and they both stood there laughing at nothing in particular. Behind us, the gods started cheering, happy that they had finally one at least one match in this tournament which seemed to be designed to humiliate them. The only exception to the party mood was Aphrodite who still looked like she was trying not to cry.

Without warning however, Ice stood up and jumped over the wall onto the field, running over to the place where the shadow, which now was revealed to be Gypsy, had fallen, head pointed down as he scanned the floor. Beside me, the other person in the duo sighed and I turned to her expectantly, waiting for an explanation, catching my eye, Karma grinned.

"He's looking for what made her fall 'cause he thinks she did it on purpose. She does that all the time when she gets bored of things. You should have heard her singing earlier!"

We all stared at her in shock at these words, but we didn't dare saying anything, I guess we just never expected there to be such a childish figure in the ranks of such a serious organisation. A few seconds, later, we were pulled from our surprised state by Ice shouting at the girl in question, in a language that really did not sound like anything I had really heard before, however, before he could finish his tirade, yet another apple came from the shadows and hit him in the back of the neck, making him fall forwards and Gypsy giggle hysterically. Desperately trying to gain at least a little information that made sense, I focused on the girl's name as I turned back to our narrator and posed the question. At first, I thought that she hadn't heard me, she was laughing too much at the others, but she did eventually turn to face me, a small smile dancing across her lips.

"Wha? Oh, yeah, the name. Well, despite how she looks, Gyp is the fastest in the group, which is why the apple seemed to come from different places before, that was her true speed. She got her name because she hates to settle in one place for any length of time."

Well, at least that was one thing cleared up, but even as I thought about what she had just said, I couldn't help thinking that something was wrong… I thought about it for a second more, and then it hit me.

"You said she was the one throwing the fruit, but a minute ago it seemed to come from in front of her and she didn't move… she can't possibly have thrown it."

To my surprise, this just made Karma laugh all the more heartily and she seemed almost out of breath when she next answered me.

"Oh, no, that wasn't her." She burst into another round of giggles even though she was obviously trying to suppress them, "No, that had to be Shade throwing it, he acts like a little kid all the time, I guess he just thought that it would be funny."

I only realised that the gods had been continuing to listen in on our conversation when they stiffened in shock behind us, but that is only to be expected. After all, from what we have seen of the leader of these people, he did not appear to any of us as someone who even had a sense of humour, let alone a childish streak, but before we could say anything else, the three who had been standing in the middle of the field had reached our end and were hopping over the barrier. I don't know whether I should be scared or happy about the fact that Hermes had his manic grin back.

Sighing deeply, Ice flopped down on the bench beside me and I' pretty sure I heard him growl under his breath before he turned back to address everyone.

"Looks like Shade isn't letting anyone who lost fight again, so we're going to be stuck with the brat for a while, I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Anyway, I think it is time for the next person to go in, if we want to finish this some time tonight."

And with that, he returned to face the pitch, leaning on Karma in a way that made Aphrodite squeal, signifying that she had got over the horrors of her own ordeal in the ring. Wondering who it was that was going to fight next, I glanced across to the seats behind me, only to notice that one of them was missing. The sight made my heart leap into my mouth as I realised who it was. Oh dear, this was not going to be good!

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**A/N: Okay, probably not my best chapter, but oh well, the gods won one for a change **** any way, same rules apply as the last chapters good luck and thank you for your support!**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Okay, this time it is a big congrats for Candyland7 this chapter is for you, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!**

I saw the mist shimmer at the end of the field next to the entry gate and I gulped, this next fight was going to be far from civil that's for sure, after all, the god of the seas is the one of us most often linked to destruction. For a split second, I was so focused on Poseidon's appearance that I failed to notice the girl who had just appeared beside me, well, that was until she leant over and blew on the back of my neck, making me jump. Twisting round to glare at whoever even thought of doing that, I was in for another shock when I came face to face with Rogue. Remembering what that girl could do, I shuddered and flinched away from her, all of which just seemed to add to her laughter.

"Relax, that trick uses up too much energy, I'm not going to do that just you creep you out!"

Her voice was almost crystalline with its transparency, and, even though I still didn't trust her, I found myself relaxing, focusing, instead, on what little of her face I could make out through the shadows. I think I could just about make out the flash of her eyes, but the colour looked to be changing all the time… I wanted to examine them closer, but, before I got the chance, Gypsy jumped on her back, claiming the other girl's attention.

"Why you over here Ray, I thought that you were still in until you lost, and I don't think you lost yet did ya?"

That was actually a very good question and I found myself listening in to their conversation even as I kept my eyes trained on the god who was now making his way into the centre of the arena, being very careful not to let his shadow cross with any others, it looked like he had noticed the other girl was with us. I flinched a little when something that sounded suspiciously like a growl came from Rogue, but the next minute she seemed to sigh as if in resignation.

"Shade told me that I'm not allowed to fight again until I apologise, he said what I did was, and I quote, 'cruel and unusually punishment' or something like that. Honestly, you would have thought that I had started drowning puppies in front of the woman or something."

She shifted slightly to glare at a particular patch of shadows as she spoke, and I was guessing that they were serving as the hiding place for shade. It looked like Poseidon had the same idea as he suddenly lunged for that area, brandishing his trident with lethal familiarity, but, to everyone's surprise, the assassin didn't just dodge, he jumped onto the weapon, landing on it completely balanced. There was the sound of gasping from all around the arena, but beside me, Ice groaned.

" And here he goes showing off again. I thought he said he was going to take these fights seriously for a change! When I get my hands on him I'll…"

"You'll what Ice? Fight him? Attempt to punish him? You know that when he fights for real you can't even land a scratch on him, so I am really interested as to how that threat is going to end." Rogue spoke with a joking lilt to her voice, but, for some reason, that just seemed to make all the others shiver like they were thinking of something horrifying. For a while everyone was quiet as we watched Poseidon and Shade exchange blows, but it seemed like she grew tired eventually and pressed on.

"Go on Ice, we're waiting…tells us, what are you going to do to him?"

There was something strange about how her voice sounded in that phrase, especially in the last part, but I just couldn't work out what. I did, however, notice the fact that Aphrodite had begun to stare intently at the back of the girls head as though she was trying to see through what ever magic the hood possessed. Through the vibrations in the bench, I knew that the other assassin was shifting uneasily.

"I'll tell him off… I guess?"

The last part came out more like a question, but before the other could come back with a cutting comment, the goddess of love shot her hand out and grabbed the girl's shoulders, dragging her round to face the Olympian council, her stare forceful enough to make anyone uncomfortable.

"You… You're one of my kids aren't you?"

I saw the others turn around at this, but Rogue looked like she was laughing.

"And what makes you think that?"

"You just used charm speak on him, that's what makes me think that! You said that you weren't going to mention your _mother _when you introduced yourself earlier… that was me wasn't it?"

The girl seemed to flinch at the allegations and the goddesses eyes seemed to gleam with tears in the candle light at the idea of one of her children betraying and hurting her like that, but she was saved from having to answer any questions as, right at that moment, the contest in the arena went from an exchange of playful blows to a full on fight, dragging our attention back to the action. When I looked round, I could see Shade, now handling two blades, holding the trident in place by locking them into the gaps between the spokes, both sides were battling for supremacy in strength, but then the ground beneath their feet rocked, sending Shade stumbling backwards.

Quick as a flash, Poseidon made the most of this opening and leapt forward, aiming to strike at the place where your neck joins your chest, something that would cripple anyone on the receiving end, but at the last second, Shade dropped to the floor and rolled into the shadows. For a few moments, he seemed to have disappeared, but then the robed figure appeared from behind the god, swinging his sword at his opponent's unprotected back. It was going so quickly that there seemed to be no way for the lord of the sea to dodge, but, just as the blow was about to land, a wall of solid water appeared as a shield, sending the sword clattering to the floor. Light as a feather, the assassin jumped backwards a good 15 feet before settling in a crouch.

I could feel the temperature dropping now as Poseidon began to manipulate the moisture in the atmosphere, but what I felt couldn't be anything like how cold it must be in front of the Olympian where ice was visibly beginning to form into large shards that hung in the air, as is they were being supported by some invisible string. The whole sight was actually rather creepy, though I would never actually tell him that, he needs nothing else to swell his ego.

For a second, it looked as though the warrior of Chaos had no idea how to react to the situation as he merely stood there, looking from one mini glacier to the next so quickly it might have been amusing in any other circumstances, but for now, we were all holding our breaths. If these actually hit, it might mean a valid win for the Olympians, but a sinking feeling in my gut made me think that this attack was not going to get through… A few more moments passed and the Ice chucks were now the size of baseball mitts… Now the size of bowling balls… Finally, when they looked to be similar in size and weight to boulders, the sea god let them fly towards the assassin who merely straightened and stretched out his hand. To everyone's complete and utter shock, the ice stopped… and then it began to disintegrate.

The whole arena was in silence, until Gypsy started laughing manically.

"That's the way to do it!"

She quoted in between her giggles, her gaudy, falsetto voice sounding too much like the original and, before I knew it, we were all laughing, even Shade, though the sea god was staring at him in complete and utter disbelief.

"How on earth did you manage that?"

Shade straightened up again, making a time out symbol with his hands as he was hit with yet another wave of laughter. Finally, he managed to control himself, though he still appeared to be gasping for air when he spoke.

"Son of Chaos, this sort of thing comes in the job description… I really think I should gag the brat though."

Poseidon continued to glare at the robbed figure in front of him who returned to his laughter as I felt the little girl behind me puff up at being called a 'brat'.

"Hey, no fair! I'm older than you, you're the brat Shade!"

Finally, after a long few minutes, the boy in the arena managed to regain enough to control over himself to continue the match. Flashing the time symbol at his opponent again to let the god know he was ready to fight, he ran into the shadows behind him and vanished once again. This time however, Poseidon was expecting the kids next mood so, when Shade made to slash at his side, the god sidestepped and grabbed the boy by the collar, throwing him to the ground and making his hood slip off. This new development made everyone crane forwards, trying to catch a glimpse of the boy's face, but from where they had ended up, the only one actually able to see was the god himself who froze instantly.

A few more seconds passed while everyone tried desperately to take a look, but Shade rose to his feet, roughly yanking the hood of his robes back over to conceal his face, though it looked like the damage had already been done as Poseidon whispered one word that was enough to turn the deathly silent arena into a mass of chaos in under a second. The one word that we had never expected to hear uttered again. The word that reawakened old sores and wrenched a hole in my chest just as violently as it had on the last time I had heard it.

"Percy…"

**A/N: There you go, another day, another chapter, though I am afraid you only get that over the week ends. Anyway, the competition is going to have a break for a chapter or two, but, don't worry, it will be back. This Chapter has a different question however for the dedication of the next. The first person to tell me who Gypsy was quoting when she made everyone else laugh gets the next chappy, everyone else to guess right gets a fictional cookie so, good luck!**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Um, now I'm wondering if Punch and Judy is only in England… I thought it was global, but, what ever, and, as I didn't really put stipulations on the contest, I guess that I am going to accept Doctor Who as well. First of all, a big CONGRATS to ****Teenagedream123**** with the correct answer, this chapter is for you! Secondly, I have cookies here for ****The Percabeth Stories**** and ****Velocity Warren****, well done, and look out for the question at the end of the chapter. I love you all!**

**Ella ^_^**

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"_Percy?"_

The second that that lone word registered in my mind, I felt like the world was going to go black and my vision seemed to go tunnelled. Beside me, the assassins of Chaos were leaning forward, as though they had no idea what was going on other than the fact that Poseidon had recognised their commander. On the other hand, I felt Rogue stiffen and I was beginning to think that, maybe, she knew a lot more than she had first let on, could it be possible that she was actually… but no, that couldn't be right, Piper McLean was dead, we all saw her body, just as we all saw Percy fall when he took Zeus' bolt that was aimed at Gaia… so actually, it may be possible…

Contrary to the way that his companions were reacting, Shade seemed quite relaxed, despite the fact that he had just become the subject of nearly 3000 harsh glares that longed to kill. Straightening up, it seemed as though he had inclined his head to the side, but it was hard to tell when he was dressed in such a manner, with his face completely obscured. The whole place was silent once again, but this time the air was definitely charged with enough hatred to send Nemesis hyper, while the two in the arena just stared at each other. This lasted for quite a long time, no one daring to break the tension, but that only lasted until…

I nearly jumped out of my seat when the red robed girl beside me cracked up laughing, a noise that sounded like a whip crack in the stillness that we were currently experiencing, as well as setting all the others off, and, like the spell had finally been broken, the gods were in action, Ares flashing in on a signal from his father to roughly grab the arms of the assassin who didn't seem to resist, though from what we had seen before, fighting off the war god would not have been too much of a problem. What I found most interesting however, was that none of the kids beside me actually attempted to aid their companion… Finally, wanting to make some sense of the situation Zeus grabbed Rogue and yanked her round, forcing her to face him.

"You find something amusing here girl? You know who he is don't you?"

The seething tone in his voice was unmistakeable and for a minute, I honestly thought that she was going to start laughing again, but, for some reason, the girl lent forward as though she was going to whisper in his ear, surprising us all, but, instead, she spat clean in his face before flipping out of his now loosened grip and joining Shade in the arena where she hugged him and pulled the boy's body from the war god's grip. We were all stunned. Never before had there been such an open act of disrespect towards the gods and I was sincerely concerned that some serious fighting would brake out, but, seemingly oblivious to the scandal she had just caused, Rogue began to speak in a mocking voice, making everything worse.

"Well, I can't really say that I expected much from such an air head, but you really don't get it do you? Chaos said that we were his elite, the best in his army, we don't just take anyone in! I don't know who this boy is that you're talking about, but he has no relation to us. But ask away, I don't think that Shade will answer any of your questions anyway!"

And with that, she returned to glaring at the king of the gods, and I shuddered, if only looks could kill… from the position of the gods, it looked like they were preparing for a fight, thinking on my feet I knew that I would have to say something soon to prevent an all out war shaking slightly, I got to my feet and addressed the boy, but he beat me to it, stepping between the two and placing a hand on her shoulder soothingly.

"Peace sister, we did not come here to fight nor make enemies of the Olympians. We are here to aid them, which means that you need to get past your vendetta or else I will have to send you home!"

Not knowing how to react to these words, we all just sat there in a stunned silence, watching Rogue relax slightly at his touch, as though she was admitting defeat for a moment, but then her head snapped up and she began the argument anew.

"I'm not angry… not for myself, I just don't like the fact that you were made to return by Master Chaos. You should not have to return to this planet after the…"

"I told you before that it is fine, what I do not remember does not affect me and so it should not affect you either. Return to the camp and clear your head before you return… then maybe you will be better behaved!"

Behind me I herd Artemis stiffen at the tone of voice he was using with the girl, but Rogue just seemed to take his words as a challenge, slipping into the language from before, they began a heated argument that seemed to make the air around them boil with rage. Quickly becoming frustrated by the lack of information, my mother leaned towards the 3 assassins who seemed to be flinching with every exchange making it clear that they understood everything that was being said.

"Translation…?"

I heard a sigh and the group looked from one to the other before Gypsy spun in her seat to face the gods, answering with a sobriety I would have believed beyond her.

"What they are actually saying is a secret known only to a few, us not being included as they are hiding the majority of it from our understanding, but we know enough to make out quite a bit of it. They are arguing about the past, their past, and I am willing to bet that Shade is going to lose!"

"You speak of it as 'their past' what does that mean?"

Artemis really did not look like she agreed with a young lady being pared with a male, but the last part of the assassin's sentence seemed to please her in a strange way. Flinching a little, the girl looked round before speaking, as though she thought that she would be berated for her words.

"They're siblings, twins, I think… they never really answer that question though…"

And with that, she turned back to the bickering duo, offering no further explanation and leaving us all in as much confusion as we had possessed before hand, but, true to her words, a few seconds latter, something seemed to happen in their conversation seemed to switch and, looking oddly as though he was about to cry, Shade pulled the shadows towards him and disappeared into the night, making Zeus spring to his feet and start yelling in indignation.

"No, we need the boy to return for questioning, do not let him get away!"

All at once, everyone in the arena seemed to spring to their feet, ready to act upon the orders that they had just received, but, even as they moved, the night grew darker, heavier almost and one word echoed above all of the other noises, perfectly audible though it was spoken in barely more than a whisper.

"No."

All eyes returned to the girl in the middle of the arena, standing between 2 gods but looking as though she had the confidence to face down an army. Slowly the king of the gods turned to face her, arching his eyebrow as her evaluated the reply before speaking. This was not a situation he was used to. His voice filled with silent hatred, he spat two words at her.

"Excuse me?"

"I said no, leave my brother be, Olympus has already done him enough wrongs, you do not need to add torture to the list."

Again, her voice was quiet, but the venom in the words was sharp and biting, bringing everyone up sharp. We had not been expecting this and I couldn't help it, I spoke.

"What do you mean 'done him enough wrongs'?"

I shrank back as her glare fixed itself on me and I anticipated an attack, but what she did next shocked me even more. With an action faster than thought, she reached for her hood, yanking it down to reveal her face and I realised that this was not my lost friend. The girl in front of me was an immortal, that much was obvious from the power given out from her countenance and she was terrifying, no one I ever knew, and I sincerely thanked the gods that I did not.

There was a general gasp that went around the stadium as everyone absorbed the sight of the teenage girl that was now clear. With her caramel skin, raven locks and the soft curves of her face, she would have been beautiful, if it had not been for her eyes. Although they looked like any other from a distance, as she stalked closer to me, I noticed the fact that they flickered violet with a wicked light that danced with the flame of her hate. When she was only two feet in front of me, she stopped fury radiating off of her like heat and making me shiver. When she spoke, it was with a deathly silent voice that everyone strained to hear.

"What happened? You're asking me _what happened? _You, child, are an idiot, and I hope that you can live the rest of your life in the same ignorance that you possess today! I hope that your precious _gods," _her lips curled as she spat the word as though it left a foul taste in her mouth, "never reveal to you their true faces! They are the reason that my brother holds no memory of his past before we joined Chaos 4000 years ago. The reason why mother and I found him dying in the street. The reason why I sold my soul to Chaos just for one small chance of revenge. While he was alive on earth, my brother was seen as the Champion of Olympus and due to this, he was forced to face so many things that would haunt you only in your nightmares! He gave his energy, life and _blood _for their protection, against our mother's wishes, but what thanks does he get? He gets betrayed then attacked because your _pathetic _gods fear his power. Yes dear _Annabeth _I hope your gods never display to you their true nature, because, when they do, you will not enjoy the picture!"

And with that, she snapped her fingers and disappeared in a bloody red light.

Letting out breathe that I was unaware of holding, I collapsed back into Taralan's waiting arms, shaking like mad and gulping down air fitfully. I had no idea how she knew my old name, the name I discarded when I was betrayed, but it scared me and I had the feeling that I had just made a rather dangerous enemy. When I calmed down a little, I turned to survey the faces of the gods as they stared in stunned silence towards the place where she had recently stood. Again, the silence stretched on, until it was, once again, interrupted by the swift, flowing language of the assassins as they seemed to have a hurried conversation before karma and Ice disappeared in a strong breeze leaving only Gypsy behind. Turning to the gods behind her, the girl made a strange gesture with her left hand, twisting it so that the palm faced outwards and the fingers curled down.

"I guess we need to apologise for that outburst, but everything that Rogue spoke was the truth. We do not know what happened, but I know for a fact that we, none of us, can tell a lie and she actually showed her true face… we will go try to calm her down, it is best if we don't interact with you for a while however…"

She trailed off and her image began to blur and fade, but, just before she had gone completely, Hera seemed to recover enough to ask one last question.

"Wait, they kept talking about their mother… can't you talk to her? Who is she?"

Gypsy stopped fading for a second, and I am sure that her face twisted into a grimace before she disappeared entirely, her words still lingering behind once she had gone.

"The lady will not be told… the children of Nyx must always walk alone."

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**A/N: Okay, I know it is a little different to what you were all expecting, but, what do you think? Anyway, the question for the next chapter is:  
**

**What was the name of the shop where Sally worked in "The lightning Thief"?**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Okay, that question got a lot more responses than the last one. So, this time, I have a chapter for **_**Lousia4533 **_**with cookies here for **_**NeverGonnaBePerfect**__**, **__**candyland7**__**, **__**TimeLadyofTARDIS**__**, **__**Royalfuschia**__**, **__**ASSASSIN OF ARTEMIS**__**,**__** The Percabeth Stories**__**, **__**TheReviewGuy,**__** and **__**FateOfChaos. **_**Thank you for all the reviews and keep your eyes peeled for the new question at the end of the chapter.**

* * *

After that scene in the arena, the Olympians vanished, saying something about having to rethink their strategies to account for the fact that they had just estranged their most powerful allies in this war, but I knew they were really going to discuss the new discovery about the past of Shade. After all, the fate of us all may depend on them being able to reconstruct the bridge that they had burned many years ago, as unlikely as that seems…

Once the gods were gone, my friends and I sent the kids off to bed, deciding that they had stayed up too long and, anyway, they had had far too much excitement for one day/ night or what ever. I was just on my way back to my room in the big house after quieting down some of my siblings who had decided to have a fully fledged war council at 4am, when I noticed a figure sitting on a sand dune, staring out to sea. Figuring that it was one of Poseidon's kids breaking curfew, I hid my presence and started to sneak up on them, grinning at the imagined image of their surprised face. The figure looked like a boy… I hope it was Jamie, Poseidon's youngest son… he was always a good one to get a reaction from. However, as I grew closer, I saw that the figure was clad completely in black robes and I froze. Shade. Not wanting to get in his way, I started backing up a little, but it seemed like he had noticed me as he soon called out.

"I know you're there godling, you don't need to hide."

Gods, how good was his hearing? Or did he have some sort of superhuman ability that came from being the child of a primordial? Anyway, he didn't seem to be angry so I thought that it would be alright to come out into the opening. Silently, I stepped out from the shadows and folded myself down into a seated position beside him, staring deep into the dark water so as to avoid looking at his face.

"Hey."

"Oh, so it is the daughter of Athena, I wondered who it was moving around so late at night, I thought everyone would have gone to bed already."

"Yeah, I had to calm down some campers, seems like they got a little excited."

There was a long silence after that and I began to worry that I had said the wrong thing, but, just as I was about to apologise, I heard him sigh next to me and, when I looked round I saw that he had removed his hood and was now staring openly up at the sky. My breath caught in my chest when I saw his features that really were so much like Percy's in the moonlight that I almost made the same mistake, but this boy's features were more wary and his eyes the same lilac hue as his sister's. When he spoke, his voice was filled with a pain that physically pulled at my heart. In that one second, it felt like he was a person who was used to bearing a great weight upon his shoulders and now he was being forced to hold more.

"I guess I must apologise for that, though Gypsy say's that she already has. My sister can be temper mental when it comes to certain issues… Especially when it comes to me, though I really have no idea why."

He sighed again and frowned, making his face seem older, wiser, yet worn and weary. For some unknown reason, I felt the irrational urge to place a hand on his shoulder, his cheek, his hand… anything to help ease his pain. However, these emotions scared me, so I settled for curling up into a tight ball and offering him the only comfort I could manage, verbal.

"It's not your fault, we all have things that we are willing to fight for. I think its nice that you two have such a strong bond…"

I trailed off, not knowing what else to say really, but, as I finished, he seemed to relax a little and I think I even began to see a smile tug at his lips for a second. When he was like this, he looked beautiful, the carved statue of a god that lived and breathed, it made me want to smile too, so I did, but then he seemed to growl in frustration and the grin slid form my face as quickly as it had come.

"What is it?"

He shook his head slightly and I thought that he wasn't going to answer, but just as I was about to push myself back onto my feet he sighed yet again.

"I don't know… I'm trying to figure something out but it appears to be beyond me and its really annoying."

"Well… if you tell me, maybe I can help?"

"You wouldn't understand…"

I sensed a challenge in his words and I felt my smirk return even as my eyebrow arched. Well, if this was how the conversation was going, it might be interesting…

"I'm the daughter of the incarnation of wisdom Shade, it would surprise you what I can understand."

This time, when he turned to look at me, his face was a picture of severity, something that would have panicked me, if it wasn't for the fact that I could clearly see the mischievous look dancing behind his eyes.

"I don't think I will _girl _there are some things I know that you may find rather disturbing…"

His words had a light, mocking tone to them and, before I knew it, found myself answering. For once, the words came easily, something that had not happened in more than 1000 years, as though I was talking to a friend that I knew better than anyone.

"Oh yes _boy? _I, for one, really do not believe it wise to insult someone who has a far superior intellect than yourself. It is the common mistake for a man to underestimate a woman, and even more common for them to pay dearly for that mistake."

For a second, he looked at me and his expression froze, but then he threw his head back and laughed openly. I liked his laugh, it was genuine, not like those of people who only express emotions if they will aid them in some way. It bounced across the sound around us and reflected back from the night, before long, I was finding it hard to keep the stern expression on my face as I mock glowered at him.

"And _what, _may I ask, do you find so amusing young man?"

He stopped abruptly at the tone of voice I used turning to face me, a guilty look flashing across his features until he realised that I was smiling and he grinned sheepishly at me.

"Just then, you sounded like Artemis, it was great!"

I blinked at him then, as I processed what he said and I guess that my face must have looked a little strange as he started giggling again, muffling his laughter in the sleeve of his jacket, breathing heavily. Eventually, I gave up and laughed along with him, our voices echoing around us in perfect harmony.

After a while, we just sat there in a comfortable silence, neither of us feeling the need to talk while we stared up at the stars. I glanced up into the familiar spot where I could see Zoë running through the night sky and I smiled in remembrance, but then I remembered something.

"Hey."

"Mmm?"

"You never answered my question before, what was it that was bothering you?"

A beat of silence followed and then:

"Oh, nothing important. I can't really remember too clearly, you kind of distracted me with the impression of your aunt."

I frowned, he was lying. I sat there, musing about how I would get him to tell me the truth as, when someone tried to hide things from me, it only made me more eager to find out the answer, but then I got an idea and I grinned evily, making him shift uneasily under my leer.

"What are you pla-"

"Either you tell me, or I will tickle the answers out of you! I'll give you to the count of 3!"

He gave me a look of utter disbelief, and I have to admit, I was feeling more than a little surprised with the way I was treating one of the most dangerous beings in the entire universe, but he hadn't blasted me yet, something I took as a good sign, and anyway, he was really cute now that he was beginning to look scared.

"You wouldn't…"

"1."

He started backing away from me as I continued to smile sweetly at him. It really was a sight to behold, the commander of Chaos' personal army being afraid of someone tickling him of all things…

"2."

He looked about to get to his feet when I sprung and crashed into him, knocking us both down the side of the hill, rolling over and over each other as the sand splayed out around us. When we crashed down at the bottom, we were both breathless with laughter and I felt myself relaxing.

"Hey, what happened to 3, I thought I had another second left?"

I had my eyes closed to protect them from the grit around us, but I knew he was smiling at me. Opening my eyes, I went to answer him, but I felt my heart stop as I realised how we were positioned. We were lying there, me on top of him and my face only mere inches above his. This close, I could smell the slight scent of crushed pine needles and incense mixing with the sea breeze that swirled around us. All together, it was more than a little intoxicating. My mind going on complete and utter standby for a while, I didn't notice the fact that we were leaning towards each other until our lips met.

I felt a jolt as our skin connected and, even though there was an increasingly small voice in the back of my head telling me that I really shouldn't be doing this, I felt myself melting into the kiss and relaxing further into his muscled chest. Nothing about the whole situation seemed wrong, it just seemed completely natural… it was this notion that brought me up short and I pulled away quickly, stumbling backwards off of him as I tried to pull myself to my feet even as he pushed himself up slightly on one elbow, looking at me quizzically and looking all the more breath taking… NO, focus Lyssa!

"You okay?"

I looked back at his face, removing my hands from my cheeks that were now glowing a soft pink from both my blush and the slap and I felt all the thoughts into my head run into a big mess.

"Um, yeah… I mean no… I mean… I need to go!"

And with that, I sprinted off towards the big house, noting the fact that he didn't follow me (something that I tried not to care too much about, after all, why should I? It wasn't like I knew him or anything!) and dove into my room, shutting the door with a snap behind me. As the full realisation hit me, I slumped to the floor, gasping for breath.

I had just kissed Shade, the son of Chaos, commander of the world's most powerful army… and he still hadn't answered my question! Almost as though it had a mind of its own, I felt my arm lift and my hand caress my lips as I thought back to the even on the beach. Gods, just what the hell was wrong with me?

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**A/N: Okay, there was some fluff for you, don't know if it was any good or not, but feel free to tell me what you thought to it. Anyway, the question for this chapter is:**

**Who was Artemis' one and only boyfriend?**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Okay, I caused a little controversy with the last question as, some people are claiming that Orion was not her boyfriend, but in the most popular myths, they were lovers until Apollo got jealous and tricked his little sister into killing him. So, the winner of this chapter is ****Louisa4533. ****And Here I have cookies for:**

**FateOfChaos**

**Zerowinz**

**Tojieisnoob**

**TimeLadyofTARDIS (Thank you for reminding me that the new doctor who airs tonight)**

**MinervaStar**

**SolSpellDiggory**

**Allen R**

**Velocity Warren**

**Kelly957**

**The Percabeth Stories **

**Warbird 101**

**Guest: Carl13 (and in some of the stories they were engaged)**

**Guest**

**Candyland7**

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Shade's PoV **(bout time we had a change right?)**

With all the thoughts reeling around inside my head, it seems like my feet decided where they were taking me without my brain really being involved in the process, I only really took note of my surroundings when I felt the soft, shifting sand beneath my feet and sensed the waves moving in front of me. Sighing slightly, I sank to the ground, staring out into the waves as I let my thoughts take control again.

First of all, in the arena, when Poseidon mistook me for his lost son… why did my heart start beating faster? Normally my pulse only quickened when I was afraid of something (a rarity) or when I was hunting (the most likely option) but in this instance, neither were the case.

Then there was what my sister said, I never liked making her upset and I had talked to her about this earlier, but it seemed like she was not going to get over this grudge anytime soon. This could be a problem as I needed to be able to trust her to follow orders and aid the gods instead of trying to kill them, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't for the life of me come up with a solution.

Finally, there was the issue of my lost past. Master Chaos had said that this place was once my home, and I have to admit that it feels like he was right. Something about the odd assortment of buildings, activities and even the people contained in this valley felt familiar, but every time I attempted to grasp the feeling to explore it more closely, it slipped away again leaving me even more frustrated.

I was about to give up and return to the campsite, assuming that all the others would have stopped waiting for me by now, but just as I was about to stand, I felt a small disturbance in the air behind me and noticed the scent of an immortal… not a strong one though, like they were trying to hide… unthinkingly I called out.

"I know you're there godling, you don't need to hide."

I felt the person behind me stiffen for a moment, and I guess that they were shocked by the fact that I had noticed them. I thought that they were going to run away after being caught, but, to my surprise, they came and sat next to me, staring out into the stormy depths of the water beneath us. Alyssa.

"Hey."

"Oh, so it is the daughter of Athena, I wondered who it was moving around so late at night, I thought everyone would have gone to bed already."

I felt her stiffen as I mentioned her parentage, but she just continued to stare out into the distance so I couldn't really tell what she was feeling. I didn't think that she was going to answer at first, but then:

"Yeah, I had to calm down some campers, seems like they got a little excited."

Ah, yes, the scene in the arena… I can see how that could have caused quite a stir in this place, but I hadn't been thinking of that at the time. Once again, unbidden, my sisters words ran through my head and I thought the urge to growl in irritation. It was not her job to protect me when I was the one responsible for her. After all, she was my _little _sister, she shouldn't be worrying about me so much… The girl beside me shifting uncomfortably reminded me that etiquette would normally require an answer to her statement, though for us it was common for there to be long stretches of silence that bothered no one. Removing my hood to make her more comfortable, I wracked my brain, finally came up with a response as she opened her mouth to speak, beating her to the punch so to speak.

"I guess I must apologise for that, though Gypsy say's that she already has. My sister can be temper mental when it comes to certain issues… Especially when it comes to me, though I really have no idea why."

She seemed surprised at first that I had revealed my face so readily, I guess, but she then adorned a look of intense concentration ass thought she was being careful with the choice of her next words.

"It's not your fault, we all have things that we are willing to fight for. I think its nice that you two have such a strong bond…"

These words nearly made me laugh. I had never heard them before as people tended to treat this subject delicately, but it was kind of a relief to hear them now. I don't know what it was, but the longer I sat with this girl, the more relaxed I became, like I was falling back into an old pattern. And this was rather confusing, as far as I am aware, have never met this girl before in my life, but then, why do I feel so comfortable beside her? Like I'm finally in the right place? Finally, the mounting frustration that had been festering inside me since we first arrived made its presence known and I couldn't help the small growl that came from low in my throat. I hoped that she hadn't heard it, but her cute smile fell from her face and I sighed, she'd heard it!

"What is it?"

I could have said any number of things in response to her question, but it was obvious which one she would want to hear and, for once, it wasn't my master's restrictions stopping me from lying, it was her sweet, stormy grey ey… hang on, not going to tell her what I'm bothered about, that would just sound weird. I shook my head trying to clear my thoughts to come up with a plausible excuse, but I soon decided that it was best to just avoid the question entirely.

"I don't know… I'm trying to figure something out but it appears to be beyond me and its really annoying."

"Well… if you tell me, maybe I can help?"

Damn, why was she so persistent? What was worse was the fact that I was actually beginning to enjoy this. I liked arguing with this girl, it was fun. The moment I acknowledged that, I new idea came to me about how to wind her up and I grinned evily.

"You wouldn't understand…"

It was complexly worth the teasing when I saw her puff up at my words like I had seriously offended her. It was cute… in a weird way.

"I'm the daughter of the incarnation of wisdom Shade, it would surprise you what I can understand."

Oh, I don't doubt you Alyssa, but some of the things I think about really aren't a good idea for her to find out. We have faced many monsters over the years, and not all of them were family friendly. I had turned back to glare at the water after her last response, but now I turned back to look at her in earnest (not the sneak little peeks I had been settling for until now) and I tried to make my words sound mocking even though I spoke nothing but the truth.

"I don't think I will _girl _there are some things I know that you may find rather disturbing…"

I saw her eyes flash at the implied insult, but her joking demeanour soon returned as she thought up her new response.

"Oh yes _boy? _I, for one, really do not believe it wise to insult someone who has a far superior intellect than yourself. It is the common mistake for a man to underestimate a woman, and even more common for them to pay dearly for that mistake."

Oh my gods, that was just so much like Artemis and how she was acting earlier, it was such a good impression that I couldn't help but laugh.

"And _what, _may I ask, do you find so amusing young man?"

Okay, now she sounds like my mom, this just kept getting better and better. I was really beginning to like this kid. Still, I played on with her serious face for as long as I was able before answering her.

"Just then, you sounded like Artemis, it was great!"

She started to blink at that, and looked so much like a startled owl that it was hilarious. Without really being able to stop myself, I started laughing again, trying to stop the sound in my jacket so as not to insult her, but before long she joined in and I let myself laugh out loud. For s short time we sat in silence and I thought that I had finally got away with it when:

"Hey."

"Mmm?"

"You never answered my question before, what was it that was bothering you?"

Damn, she really didn't give up did she? For the shortest time possible, I thought about what I was going to say without sounding like I was hiding something and, what I finally decided on was:

"Oh, nothing important. I can't really remember too clearly, you kind of distracted me with the impression of your aunt."

It was the truth, though only partially one, she really had stopped me worrying about everything but it wasn't like I had forgotten… completely. For some reason she began to get an evil look in her eye that made me feel more than a little uncomfortable.

"What are you pla-"

"Either you tell me, or I will tickle the answers out of you! I'll give you to the count of 3!"

Wait… what? Did she just say tickle?

"You wouldn't…"

How old was she? All of a sudden I got a flash of this immortal as a small human girl, around 12 as she held a red rubber ball and looked as pale as death, but then that was gone when she continued speaking. Weird.

"1."

Damn, she really was serious. Getting a little nervous and started to push myself onto my feet, slowly starting to make my escape. For some reason, this only served to make her grin wider.

"2."

That's it, I'm getting out of here, this girl is nuts! But just as I was about to make a break for it, she sprang at me, pushing us both down the side of the sand dune. I wrapped my arms securely round her shoulders so that she wouldn't crash into the ground. When we stopped, she was lying on top of me and, I have to admit that this was a very comfortable position. I felt lie teasing her a little about it however, even as her lemon and cinnamon smell started playing with my mind.

"Hey, what happened to 3, I thought I had another second left?"

All of a sudden, her eyes snapped open and she looked about to reply, but then her eyes grew wide as she noticed how we were laying. I smiled a little at her face and, I don't really remember what happened, but suddenly our faces were only a millimetre apart and I felt her lips on mine softly and slowly sending a dizzying sense all the way through my body. All too soon, she pulled away. I opened my eyes in shock to see her distressed face and it hurt to see her like that.

"You okay?"

"Um, yeah… I mean no… I mean… I need to go!"

With that, she ran off into the night leaving me bewildered in the sand staring after her. I felt like I should follow, but something held me back. Giving up, I just flopped back down into the sand gazing up at the sky just as a shadow detached itself from the darkness and crouched down beside me.

"And gain, he strikes out!"

I groaned and covered my eyes with my arm so that I didn't have to see his gloating face.

"Go away Darren, I'm not in the mood."

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realise I had called Ice by his human name until he flinched and started to glare at me."

"Sorry, I didn't mean it."

"S'okay. Anyway, how you feeling. It's obvious that you like her, so why didn't you follow her?"

I didn't really have an answer to this question as even I didn't know why, but, for a little while, he allowed the silence to stretch on unbroken. But then I grew bored and realised that normally, he would not be here without Karma glued to his side, or have even stayed if he was just checking to make sure that I was okay. No, something was wrong.

"Okay, enough with being a nice guy Ice, what did you come here to say?"

"You never miss a trick do ya boss?"

I caught the undertone of nervousness in his voice as I turned to glare at him for this, he knew I didn't like to be addressed like this, but, to my surprise, I noticed that he wasn't wearing his customary grin and I pushed myself further up onto my elbows until I could look him square in the face. Noting how pale he looked in the moonlight.

"Just answer the question Ice, what's wrong?"

I saw a shadow of doubt flash across his face, but the light of excitement in his eyes didn't die as his hands twitched to where he stored his weapon (a 12ft long metal whip that was a lot more deadly than you would ever think possible when resting in his hands) and that was what tipped me off to what was happening. Sighing, I pushed myself off onto my feet.

"How long until the army arrives?"

Following my lead, he jumped up, thought slower than I had, like he was delaying and leant over to whisper in my ear, his breath tickling against my warm flesh due to its sub-zero temperature.

"They're already here!"

And that was when I heard the pounding of feet just beyond the boundary line, but, before I could even begin to shout a warning, a hand slid over my mouth, drowning the yell in my throat, and I was tackled to the floor.

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**A/N: Okay, this chapter's question is, er… I don't have one… No, wait, I tell a lie! This chapter's question is:**

**What plant did Persephone turn Nico into?**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Right. This chapter's winner is –insert dramatic drum roll- ****TimeLadyofTARDIS, ****And, here I have cookies for… um, a lot of people, give me a sec:**

**Violet63**

**Louisa4533**

**Candyland7**

**Fate of Chaos**

**Midnight Alwas**

**Guest: Carl123**

**Athena2000**

** . 897**

**Velocity Warren**

**Guest: TheReviewGuy**

**TalkingFish**

**A big thank you for everyone who reviewed and, the answer is, of course, a dandelion!**

* * *

Gypsy's PoV:

After I left the arena, I decided that it was probably not a good idea to return to camp. Although it was selfish, I decided that I was going to leave Rogue's fury for the others to deal with, I didn't much fancy yet another broken rib… I took care to step lightly through the dense foliage, not wanting to disturb anyone so late at the night and attempting to conceal my presence. At the last however, I failed.

About 10 minutes into my walk, I stumbled into the clearing in the woods were the lake I had found many years ago lay like a quiet disk, mirroring the velvet sky above with an almost eerie beauty, but that was not what held my attention. Instead, my eyes focused on the lone figure illuminated by the pale moonlight that somehow managed to filter through the canopy way overhead. All around me the woods fall silent as even the birds seem to be in awe of the beauty to be found in this place. The air tastes oddly sweet here, but I pay no mind to it, my mind is too filled with thoughts of the figure in front of me.

The boy stood with his back to me, head tilted back to gaze at the stars, his long hair flowing down to a point just below his shoulders in waves as the light breeze wafted it one way then another. Although all of these details were clear, there was a kind of indistinguishable quality to his form, but even then, his face was one that I would not easily forget… My breath caught as I gazed at him, but before I could even attempt to back away, he turned and stared straight at me with eyes far too lucid to be those of a ghost.

"My greetings to you Hart, it has been a long time since our last meeting has it not?"

_His _voice drifted across the clearing from where the shade stood, right against the east bank. Staring at me with _his _eyes, speaking to me in _his _voice and smiling at me with _his _mouth in the way _he _always used to, but that was impossible for the boy that was speaking to me was long dead and buried in the very depths of the underworld. I knew that this could not be him, but something seemed to be clouding my better judgement (I have a feeling that it is my conscience thought I tried to destroy that thing many long years ago…) and I want it so badly to be him. I want to be forgiven. After nearly 5000 years, I want to be free! Feeling my lungs begin a desperate fight for air, my frenzied mind could only form one word.

"C-Cole?"

"It's me."

He smiled at me sweetly with recognition and I felt the tears sting my eyes as they escaped. I tried desperately to fight them back, but they wouldn't stop coming. After so long, I thought that I had gained control over my emotions, so why did it have to be him that destroyed all of that? There was no accusation in those eyes, no hatred or bitterness, none of the emotions that I had been dreading to face for my past crime. All that was there was a comforting familiarity and kindness, but this just made me cry harder. I did not deserve this. I did not deserve absolution, it was not right, not just, not while I was here alive still, and he was a mere ghost! Sensing my distress, he seemed to almost glide across the grass and wrapped his transparent arms around me.

I sighed and remained there for a moment, allowing myself to relax into his embrace like I had done so many times in the past, but his arms kept tightening until they became uncomfortably tight around my chest, constricting the flow of air down my throat. Hardy thinking now, I allowed my instincts to kick in and I kicked him right in the soft spot, knowing that my foot would hit the mark. After all, if his arms were so solid, then the rest of him had to be too.

In his moment of shock, I pulled away, the world spinning around me as the oxygen levels in my blood pulled sharply out of their nose dive, but, by the time I had recovered, he had too and he was pouting at me with those fawn brown eyes that made my heart waver, but a nagging suspicion in the back of my head was beginning to make it's self known, and this time, I was all for being cautious. Hardening my heart and my glare.

"You're not him, you're not even a spirit… what are you?"

"Hart, what are you talking about? Of course its me!"

I groaned at this reaction, I had hoped that he would finally give up after I sussed out the trick.

"No, you're not… you're not him!"

"Hart, sweetling, I swear to you that I am Cole State, just look into my eyes and you will know the truth! I came back for you… we don't need to be apart anymore… not now the doors of death are open!"

I wanted more than anything to believe him, but, in the very depths of those caramel orbs I saw a flicker of something that didn't belong there, a deep seated hatred and malevolence. That is what made my decision.

More silent tears spilling down my face, my hand crept, unnoticed, to the sheath on my back that held the one weapon I had never wanted to wield again. Acting like a stumbling child, I crept towards him again.

"I- I'm sorry…"

"It's fine sweet hart"

I winced at the use of the old pun with my name, but I took a step closer to him and drew the dagger. Once more, the silver blade of _Almdrind _found its sheath in the chest of the boy I loved. For a second, his shocked face remained frozen behind the mask, but the whole thing then began to crumble into a fine golden dust. Soon, I was left alone in the clearing. Alone with my memories and the tears streaming down my cheeks as the birds picked up a mournful call that echoed high in the branches above my head, matching my mood perfectly. I let them sing in search of their love, and they let me weep at the loss of my own, mumbling the two words to myself over and over again like a well worn mantra.

"I'm sorry…"

But there is no answer for I am alone, completely alone.

Shade's PoV:

Everything is black… that's it… just blackness. There is no sound, no movement, sent or taste, only darkness. I have no idea what I am meant to do, my body is a distant weight, holding me down in this prison. I cannot escape. I try to call out, but no one comes, though, even as I watch, a small light appears on the horizon, growing nearer and nearer until I can see that it is a door. There is something behind it, but what ever it is, it scares me. I do not want to approach the door but I do not have to, it just keeps coming closer to me. It has almost reached the point where I wait, frozen in the darkness, when I hear a familiar voice calling my name, and the door begins to fade back into nothingness once again. Leaving me alone.

Alyssa's PoV:

From the crest of the hill where I wait for my team mates, I can survey the gathered army with ease and my heart sinks. Row upon row of monsters that gleam in the early morning light stretch back as far as my eyes can see. There are too many and our allies, the assassins, are no where to be found. I bite back tears as the campers arrive, it would not do well for me to show weakness. Not here, and not now of all times.

"SOLDIERS, HOLD THE LINE!"

I hear Chiorin and the others yelling orders behind me, but my gaze is locked on the lone figure of a woman where she strides ardently into the no man's land between our two forces. Soon I am joined by my friends and we walk down the slope slightly to meet her, our gazes filled with fury though I can feel the tension rolling off of my friends' stiff postures. At the half way point we stop, face to face with our old enemy.

"Gaia!"

The last time I stood against her like this, I had been on my own, but even as I felt Taralan's hand slip into my own, I felt a sense of power that I gained from my friends. This time, I was not alone. I felt the flashes of heat behind me and I corrected my though. This time _we _were not alone.

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**A/N: That's it for now I'm afraid, but I think you may get another one tomorrow evening if I feel like writing. Still, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, but don't be afraid to tell me what you think. Anyway, the new question for this chapter is:**

**Who is older, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes or Athena? **


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Okay, I'm back again, I guess it is because I felt bad leaving you alone with such a short chapter last time. Anyway, the winner of this chapter is: ****TimeLadyofTARDIS ****(again)****with a cookie here for just one other person: ****Kuro Yuuki-Hime**** Well Done. The right answer was Artemis as Apollo was present at both the birth of Athena (although she was born fully grown) and the trial of Hermes when the god of thieves was only a few years old. So, reason holds that Artemis, having helped deliver Apollo, is the oldest. Now, time for the chapter, enjoy!**

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Rogue's PoV:

"SHADE!"

I sprinted across the sand, towards the black form crumpled up on the ground, cursing myself for my own inattention while my hand fumbled at the place on my belt where my knife was concealed, attempting to clasp hold of the hilt without breaking stride. I had no idea about what had just happened, the only reason that I was here at all was because I had felt something off in the air while I was meditating.

Breathless, I fell to the floor next to my brother and sliced open his bonds. Once he was free, I glared around in the predawn light, searching for the ones responsible for this, but they had vanished, running off when they hear me approach. Deciding that the search was futile, I returned my attention back to where Shade was lying beside me, still as anything and deathly pale…

Panicking I leant closer and pressed two fingers to the nape of his neck, praying to find strong pulse, but all I got was a faint flutter against his skin. His chest hardly rose with each breath he took and he didn't respond even when I lost control and slapped him hard on the cheek. I bit my lip to hold back the tears and clutched his hand in my own, channelling some of my energy into his and sending out a silent plead with my thoughts to master chaos. All the while, a single thought kept running through my head.

This could not be happening!

Alyssa's PoV:

"Gaia."

It looked like Nenyo inadvertently drew the immortal's attention when he spat her name as she soon turned to smile sweetly at him. I saw our friend flinch but then glance back to where his father stood with his family and his gaze hardened. Just as the earth mother began to speak.

"Ah, yes, young Nico, it is so nice to see that you are well even after all these long years. I heard about your engagement to the lovely Thalia over here, but I believe you must forgive my belated congratulations as I was a little… snowed under at the time."

I saw the two of them flinch at the mention of their marriage, something that had been quite a low key event at the time, but I could not keep my attention on the confrontation. No mater how much I was trying to remain focused, my eyes kept slipping to the side to scan the horizon, looking desperately for and sign of Shade and his group, but they had yet to arrive. I tried to be discreet about my checks, but it appeared that I had not hidden my vigil well enough as the primordial's gaze soon returned to me, an amused spark glittering in her eyes. I don't know why, but something about that look seemed to make my blood freeze even as I attempted to stare her down. When she spoke, her voice was filled with irony and did little to lighten my spirits.

"Ah yes, Annabeth. I suppose that you are keeping watch for your boyfriend, the youngest son of my sister if I am not mistaken?"

I could hear the murmurs begin to break out behind me at her words, the least of which coming from the Olympians, but I did not have the energy to respond. Her knowledge of the event that had occurred such a short time ago was disturbing to say the least. Trying hard to keep my voice steady, I answered, hoping that I would be able to pull off being completely blasé, but, just as always with my luck, I failed miserably when I stuttered on the first word.

"H-how do you know about that?"

My shock only appeared to heighten her amusement however, and add force to the muttered conversations behind me, but her next words soon saw an end to that.

"Oh, I have my sources dear and they really are very good. I even know that my father's little toy soldiers will not be coming to help you in this little confrontation, of that you can be certain!"

Wait, what? I know there was that argument in the arena, but Shade would never abandon us like this! Admittedly I had only known him for little over a day, but even now I knew that to do that would be completely out of character, even if he was an assassin! Seemingly reading my mind, Gaia only laughed again, but this time, a robed man behind her joined in before stepping up to her side. She slipped under his arm before replying.

"Oh, you know nothing of the boy's nature child. He is quite capable of leaving his friends to die on the battlefield merely to save his own hide and… well… I wouldn't say that he particularly sees you even as a friend. It is within his nature to run from a fight if he sees no benefit in it for himself, of that you are about to learn quite soon!"

At this, her and her companion laughed again before turning to rejoin her forces. I was too shocked to respond, but I felt a hand catch hold of my arm and, in a flash, I found myself standing in the midst of the assembled gods (all 12 Olympians with Hades and a few assembled minor deities). Everyone was talking at once and I couldn't make sense of anything, but it was clear that the army below us were preparing to attack. We did not have any time left.

"Do you think she spoke the truth? About the assassins not aiding us I mean. Can we really rely on allies we met for the first time only yesterday? Will we be able to take a stand if they do not?"

My voice was quiet, nothing compared to the ruckus around me, but my words were the epitome of everyone's thoughts and they all heard it, falling silent at the realisation that we were greatly outmatched, relying deeply on complete strangers that had still not made their appearance. Finally, to all of our surprise, it was Nike who answered, putting great emphasis into each word she spoke.

"I have been watching the soldiers of Chaos for a long time. Before, even, the second Titan war. From my experience, they are honourable and will make good on their promise. Also, I have often worked beside the Lady Nyx and I have heard her tell of her son with pride. Gaia's words do not do him justice. He will come, we just have to be patient."

We all stared at her with open mouths. From what she said, the goddess had known of these fighters far longer than any of us though she decided not to share that information. From the look in his eyes, it seemed that Zeus did not appreciate being left in the dark about a potential threat, but, before he could say anything, a tall girl with bloody red hair ran up to our meeting, her milky skin glittering with a sheen of sweat in the moonlight and her sapphire eyes flickering with something that was not normal. I knew this girl, though from description, not sight. She was a strange case of a demigod whose mortal parent had died before she was born, leaving her to be raised at camp. I think her name was Kimberly Spell or something like that, Chiorin was never any good with names, she kept calling the girl krimpy Sass or something along those lines, honestly she had complained about Mr D doing the same when he was in power!

Without any ceremony or seemingly recognition of the fact that she was talking to a group of beings with enough power to completely eradicate her, she spat on the floor before turning to address Zeus, a manic look in her eyes.

"Look, either you order an attack now or we retreat, but you have to do _something. _We've been buying you time for this little chat by teaming up with our sibling from the roman side and casting a barrier spell, but that isn't going to last much longer. Either you decided now or we're not going to get much of a chance for the second option!"

The Olympians blinked at her in shock a few times, and in any other situation, it might have been hilarious to see a mortal talk to them in this way, but as I glanced back over my shoulder, I could see that the enemy army was in fact struggling to force a way through what seemed to be a golden dome, but by the sheer size of the structure, and the number of monsters battering against it with fists and weapons equally, it was obvious that it was using up a lot of energy. I did a quick check of the Hecate kids and noticed that many of them were beginning to look pale… Completely oblivious to the situation, Zeus pressed on with the conversation, attempting to salvage some small part of his wounded pride.

"And who are you child, to talk to us in such a manner?"

I saw Kim stiffen and an irritated look flashed across her face before she answered in a voice that was dripping with sarcasm.

"Oh yes, I do apologise for talking a little harshly in front of such sensitive ears. My name is Kim Spell, leader of the Hecate cabin, and currently, the only one keeping your ass out of the fire by clinging on to the frying pan. Now decided, do we attack or retreat?"

Just as she finished speaking, a bright light blinded everyone around us and a deafening noise signalled an explosion. My first thought was that the king of the gods had lost his cool with the girl and decided on a course of action rashly, but as my vision began to clear, I saw the girl fall, cursing, to her knees, her already pale skin being bleached chalk white as she slumped into her mother's waiting arms. He barrier was broken, yet, why were we not now overrun by monsters?

For some unknown a sudden wave of lethargy coursed through me, making my knees tremble and I nearly fell, but somehow I managed to retain a firm footing. The front line of our enemies however, the ones closest to the red clad girl, were not so lucky. Some of the weaker monsters exploded into a golden ash around Rogue's feet as she stalked forwards, the stronger ones merely sinking to their knees, exhaustion clear as day upon their faces. At first, I was shocked and more relieved than anything about the fact that we had not been left out to hang for Gaia's forces to beat mercilessly, but then I noticed something that made me even more scared than I had felt before the girl's arrival.

Rogue was mad… no, she was _furious _would have been a better description. Even the way she had glared at me in the arena paled in comparison to her murderous rage at this moment. She opened her mouth to speak and we all expected her to scream, but, instead, she spoke in a voice that was barely audible yet was more dangerous than a knife.

"Gaia, you better be prepared to die!"

Across the loose semi-circle formation we had been arguing in, I saw Chiorin grin at me in response to the sudden change in events, but it was all I could do to repress my shudders. I had never seen an immortal this angry before and I sincerely hope that I never have to ever again. The sight is truly terrifying! Silently, the earth mother stepped forwards to greet the seething girl, a serene smile plastered across her face as she approached Rogue cautiously, treating her like an enraged animal, (Which was probably wise considering the death threat and everything) but then she decided to _goad _her.

"Oh, so you appear at last niece? I was beginning to grow bored of this little game. Now that you are finally here, I guess we can get down to the true meaning of this little meeting!"

"Which would be?"

Without wanting to, I shivered at the ice that filled those words and, one quick glance around me was enough to inform me that I was not the only one with involuntary reflexes. But then a harsh laughter cut through the night air and I quickly snapped back to see Gaia prone on the ground, Rogue perched on her chest, holding a dagger to the goddesses outstretched neck. The one that was laughing so darkly was the assassin and, a few seconds later, she decided to fill us in on the joke.

"You want me to _join _you? After what you just did? You think I will ever help you _now? _No Gaia, what ever chance we may ever have had at a truce you just completely destroyed!"

"Oh, I wouldn't be so certain my dear. I have something to offer you that you may find quite attractive…"

"Yes? And what, pray tell, is that supposed to be? There is no bauble or trinket that you may be able to offer me that would sway my allegiance from my Master! He gives us all we want, what could you possibly have to offer?"

"How about your brother's life?"

At these words, an unnatural silence filled the hillside around us as everyone on our side froze. I clutched hold of my mother's arm, trying desperately to remain on my feet. Was Gaia implying that they had somehow captured the second strongest being in the universe? I couldn't even begin to imagine how they could scratch the boy, let alone kill him, anyway, Shade was an immortal, she had to be bluffing! But then, if this was a lie, why did Rogue look like she believed it? Did she know more than us?

"T-that's impossible, I…"

"Yes? Oh, you think you healed him with the little first aid powers father gave you? No, no, that's not true sweetheart. You must have noticed that there was something wrong that even you couldn't fix, you are a smart girl after all!"

With this, Gaia pushed the assassin away and stood slowly, brushing her dress straight and staring gloatingly down at the girl who was still crouched on the floor, looking a mixture of terrified and shocked. When she next spoke, it was more of a whisper that would not have been heard if the area had not been as still as a graveyard, everyone watching the exchange.

"What… What did you _do _to him?"

At this, it was Gaia's turn to laugh as she made some sort of signal with her right hand, causing her army to begin a retreat back into the earth to god knows where until she was left alone in the middle of a field surrounded by over a thousand enemies that were far too shocked to attack.

"Oh, a little concoction I have been working on for a while. Today was a trial run really, we wanted to know if it worked on such a strong opponent… well, there was that, and the fact we knew of your animosity towards your new allies. In fact, weren't you the one who gave your brother his black eye when he told you where you were to be sent? Anyway, I do happen to have an antidote, but, of course, I'm not going to give that away for free now am I?"

She began to walk away at this, leaving us all in the same silence as before, but, just as she was about to reach the rode, she turned back as though she had remembered something.

"Oh, and, just to be clear, you have around 2-3 days to decided whether or not to save your brother's life. After that, well, I think the decision will make itself!"

And, just like that, she was gone. Leaving us alone on the hillside in the dark, a charged tension filling the air as everyone turned to focus on the red robed figure in front of us who remained were she was for a split second before disappearing in a flash of scarlet light. Even then, I remained staring at the spot she had just vacated, unable to comprehend the fact that Shade, the leader of Chaos' assassins, the son of Nyx and the boy I had kissed on the sand dunes earlier this morning, hand his life hanging in the balance of an impossible decision.

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**A/N: Okay, there you have it, the 19****th**** chapter and a little plot twist. Did you like it or am I progressing the plot too fast? Anyway, a big thank you to Sol Spell Diggory for reasons that I think they already know and, on to the question for this chapter which will be:**

**Which flower was named after Nemisis' victim, Narcissus? (Hint: he is the one who was enchanted to fall in love with his own reflection and eventually drowned trying to reach it in a lake)**

**Okay, there you go, and a big thank you to everyone who was reviewed, I've got over 130 and it made me so happy when I found out!**


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Okay, this chapter is for **** . 897 ****with cookies here for:**

**TimeLadyofTARDIS**

**Candyland7**

**Velocity Warren **

**Guest: Enigmatic Person**

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Lily's PoV:

"Give it up Arisso, you can't escape my entire team, though I think you should have figured that out by now!"

I smirked down at the man slumped before me and I felt my eyes light up at the prospect of finally putting an end to this tyrant. Over the last 20 years since Arisso Piskot became the leader of one of the major planets in the delta quadrant (ugh, still can't pronounce the name) he had caused his people nothing but suffering. Anyone who spoke out against his regime disappeared in the middle of the night and whole families were slaughtered when they tried to revolt. In short, his reign was not a pretty one, but I was here to make sure that it didn't last any longer! I was going to show some mercy at first, but this fool just didn't know when to stop talking, even though he was laying in a crumpled heap on the floor, soaked in the blood of his bodyguards, he still seemed to think that he was in a safe enough position to sneer up at me, and that was his first mistake. His words however, wee his last.

"Oh, yes, I heard of you. The girl who got demoted from the assassin rank to baby sit a team of new recruits. You're nothing but a has been, so you have no right to tell me when to give up. After all, why would anyone be scared of you?"

Okay, this guy was really getting annoying, but he was also playing for time, hoping that, in my fury, I would make a mistake that he could exploit and use to make his escape. Unluckily for him, that was something I had no intention of doing. Instead of answering, I smiled sweetly down at him before emptying one of the containers that hung at my belt over his head, causing his chalky skin to smoke and burn. I turned away just as the screaming began, but I found myself face to face with a Rogue, and it nearly gave me a heart attack. Once I calmed down however, I recognised that the image I was seeing was just a picture in a floating portal. Something that one of our tech guys had designed as an easier and faster way to deliver messages to different squads. Wiping my slick hand on a nearby curtain, I grinned.

"You, Rosy, what you need?"

When I had turned away to grab the cloth, it seemed like Rogue had become distracted by something off to her left, but my words snapped her attention back to me. It was only then that I realised that she was looking really freaked out, and I am talking from experience when I say that this is a first. Quickly, as I read the expression in her eyes, my smile faded.

"What happened?"

She seemed to think about it for a second, something else that was completely out of character, before she answered in a haunted voice that immediately put me on edge even before her words truly registered in my adrenalin packed mind.

"We need your help here on earth, now!"

Earth? Damn the one planet in the entire universe that I really didn't even want to look at again. Still, something about her tone made me hesitate to say no. Also, while I still worked s a full time assassin, Rogue and I had been quite close friends, so she knew about my aversion to my home planet and she would never ask me if it wasn't important. Slowly, trying to calm both of us down with just my words, I repeated my question.

"What happened?"

Wait… was that a tear? Oh gods, now I'm not sure about whether or not I want to know the answer, but I still listened when she replied in a totally dead pan voice that sent a shiver through me.

"It's Shade, he's dying… someone poisoned him and it seems to be strong enough to kill immortals, we really need your help!"

With that, she slashed through the picture on her end, destroying the connection and leaving me shivering in the old throne room while an unjust leader screamed in agony, withering before my eyes on the obsidian floor. I sighed. This was not going to be fun.

"Omicron Squad, fall in!"

***^_^Random line break cat ^_^***

Alyssa's PoV:

I sighed and covered my face with my hands trying to block out the dark shapes of the infirmary that loomed over me. It was the dead of night and everything was quiet. A day had passed since the confrontation with Gaia and Shade looked worse than ever. The only sound that could be heard in the room was his ragged breathing. I took a deep breath and steeled myself to look at him again.

Earlier, when we had… talked, on the beach, his skin had been tanned, close to the ebony shade of his sister's, but now it had gone paler than ivory and glimmered in the moonlight thanks to a tin layer of sweat that gave his flesh an unnatural sheen, but that was hardly surprising seeing as though his temperature had sky rocketed.

Every now and then, he would wake up and attempt to open his eyes, but these periods never lasted long and were becoming frequently less frequent. When Gaia had first spoken of poisoning Shade, we had thought that she was just playing mind games, but Rogue had soon led us to the part of the beach where we had spoken and we found him in this state. Apollo had tried everything he knew, but nothing seemed to work, with every attempt, the boy in front of us grew weaker , so in the end we decided to stop.

I don't know why I feel so cut up about this, why I am completely unable to leave his side though every time I look at him it feels as though a knife is being driven through my heart, ripping another small piece away. I only met Shade around 3 days ago, but everything felt wrong, familiar in a way that was simply not possible, but it was still there. First there was the kiss on the beach, then, the way I kept searching for him on the battle field, and now this. I could deny it no longer, I was in love with Shade, the son of Nyx and Assassin of Chaos… and he was now dying in my arms with nothing I could do that would save him.

I heard movement across the room and glanced across quickly to notice that Karma had woken up, but that didn't hold my attention for long before returned the boy beside me. After the battle, when Rogue had been unable to call the others to inform them of what had happened we had split up to search, and what we found was anything but good. Gypsy had been found, unconscious in the middle of the forest and Karma… well, I'm not going to go into it in detail, but it took Apollo 5 hours to get her to a situation where she was out of danger. As for Ice, he was no where to be seen.

I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I didn't notice my mother arrive until she placed the blanket snugly around my shoulders and sat in the chair next to me.

"You should sleep sweetheart, you're not going to do any good staying like this!"

I sighed and leaned on her shoulder, but my eyes refused to close. I was about to say something when mom placed her hand over my eyes and the world went black.

I woke up what felt like only a couple minutes later, but the sun was now up so it had to be longer. I was in such a daze that it took my brain some time to register all the activity around me. It looked like Rogue had arrived back from where ever she had disappeared off to the other day and was standing with her back to Zeus (who was silently raging in the background might I add) Talking into a black disc. My curiosity getting the better of me, I crept forward until I could see the assassin's partner in the conversation.

Standing in the disc, with clothes splattered a dark red by something that looked suspiciously like blood, was a girl who looked around 21 with long silvery hair and stormy eyes that seemed to flicker between a charcoal grey and bright gold. Her whole baring betrayed confidence even though her face looked a little pale under the gore as she spoke.

"What happened?"

Rogue flinched a little at her words though when she replied, her voice was dead, and no sooner did she finish than she destroyed the image, all but falling into the chair behind her while Zeus seemed to regain his voice.

"And who, pray tell was that? Have you just invited yet another of your soldiers into our camp after one of them so clearly betrayed us only yesterday?"

The girl raised her hand to her temple and began to rub slow circles in her skin, like she had a splitting headache as she answered in a flat voice that completely surprised us all. We were used to bearing witness to her cutting, sarcastic remarks, and, even though we had only known her for a short while, her tired obedience seemed really out of character.

"That _girl_ is the leader of the army's medical unit, and probably the best bet I have of curing my brother so yes, I did just invite another one of our soldiers into the camp after 4 of them were so clearly attacked only yesterday!"

It appeared that the king of the gods could take no more of this and he soon flashed out, leaving only us, Artemis, Aphrodite and my mother in the room. The absence of my grandfather seemed to make Rogue relax a little as she tilted her head back, letting her long hair cover the back of her chair. Wanting to break the silence, and more than a little desperate to be distracted, I decided to carry on the conversation.

"You said she was the leader of the medical unit, but you didn't mention her name. What do we call her when she arrives?"

Rogue sighed again, and when she turned to face me, I could see that her eyes had lost their purple fire they had held earlier, leaving them a dull black colour.

"She likes it if people call her Lilly, but I think her name is Agape or something like that…"

She broke off when Aphrodite squealed at that, making us all jump and turn to the love goddess who was bouncing up and down in her seat now, her blue eyes sparkling more than a little insanely.

"You mean she's _the _Agape? Daughter of Hemera and Aether?"

At this, Rogue looked more than a little bemused at this sudden onslaught of information, but she nodded anyway making the goddess squeal again. This time, it was my mother who responded in shock, surprised that the love goddess knew more than her I don't doubt.

"Why do you know so much about this girl Aphrodite? I have never seen her name written in any scroll nor recordings from the ancient times thought from your description she must be an immortal…?"

She trailed off when Aphrodite gave her a look that was filled with disbelief and outrage.

"You mean you have never heard of her? That's impossible! She is only one of _the _most important primordials of all time!"

At this, mom just blinked a few times, searching her brain for any reference to the girl that she may have missed, but I was too busy staring at the lady of the dove in complete and utter shock. How could it be that there was a primordial that my mother had never heard of, especially if she was as important as she was being made out to be. In the end, I sighed and shrugged, signalling for Aphrodite to explain. When she obliged, it was in the same dreamy tone that she reserved for speaking about hot boys and beauty tips, and that was when I knew we were in trouble.

"Agape: Primordial goddess of love, beauty and perfection. She is my complete and utter _hero!"_

I groaned and slammed my head back into my hands. Honestly, she makes such a big fuss about of something and _this _is the reason for it? While I still had my eyes covered, I heard the door open slightly and someone laugh with a sound like a wind chime.

"It's nice to know you think so highly of me Aphrodite, though I believe that you missed out my most important office."

My head snapped up to the open door where the girl from the image was now standing beside yet another hooded figure. Over in the corner, Aphrodite was practically drooling and my mother looked about to go into shock. Artemis, on the other hand, retained her cool demeanour and was able to ask smoothly.

"And what is that, may I ask?"

The girl turned to grin at the moon goddess in a benevolent way that seemed to send a sense of ease drifting through the infirmary.

"Healing."

And with that, she turned to the girl beside her who appeared to be her assistance, and offered her the bag on her shoulder.

"Now, Pyralis, sweetie, could you go set up the stuff while I have a look at my nephew? It looks like we have a bit of work to do here!"

Silently, the girl, Pyralis, strode across the room and took a place next to me, beginning to pull strange silver objects out of the seemingly bottomless satchel, but it did little to calm my nerves that had returned the second my eyes had returned to the motionless boy beside me. Seeking reassurance, I turned back to the primordial.

"Do you think you can help him?"

I saw Rogue sit up straighter at this, as though it was a question that she had been planning to ask herself, but when Agape turned to me, I could see the pity in her eyes that was held just for me, and her next words broke my heart.

"I don't know child, I just don't know."

* * *

**A/N: Okay, the question for this chapter is:**

**What book does Mars give Frank?**

**(wow, who knew that Ares could ever read haha –hides under table- please don't kill me oh great and powerful war god.) Thanks for all the reviews guys, you have no idea how happy they make me!**


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: yay, I got a good response for that chapter, but, just a little note, don't ask me for any spoilers of details because my brain isn't telling me any more of the plot than it is telling you. Anyway, this chapter is for: ****Angelwingz324 ****with cookies here for, wait for it…:**

**Louisa4533**

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**Olympus97**

**Thanks for the reviews everyone, they really mean a lot to me! And enjoy this new update.**

* * *

3rd Person's PoV

All around the camp, were demons of every sort, many of which had never been seen since the dark days, but, despite this force of nightmares, not a sound was made, instead, there was a thick tension in the air that had been unrelenting for the past two days. Hidden in her tent, the Primordial goddess of the earth was pacing back and forth, checking her watch every few seconds as she too waited. Behind her, hidden in the shadows cast by the flickering lamp on the table, a man chuckled as he watched his partner's anxiety attack.

"Be calm pretty one, there is still time yet for the girl to change her mind, and when she does, the flaws of Nyx will be ours to exploit. Your pacing is uncalled for, she will come."

"I wish to believe that you are right my love, but if she does not concede, we lose two very powerful potential allies, and I so would have loved my sister's support in this war."

"Yes, but if she remains firm, then you lose two powerful, potential risks as well. Do not forget that the girl is not to be trusted, even if she complies."

Without another word, Gaia returned to her consort and seated herself upon his lap, allowing the raven wings to surround them both.

Back in the camp, things were less calm, in all actuality, there was more of a riot. In the middle of the common area, two girls appeared to be arguing in the moonlight, attempting to be discreet with their conflict, but, unbeknownst to them, the words carried to the two in the tent so far away, making both of them smile evily.

"Rogue, no, I can't allow this!"

The speaker was attempting to stare down the other participant in the conversation, but her try was marred by the silver tracks glimmering on her cheeks and her swollen eyes. Her opponent was little more composed, with eyes that shone black like the inside of a tomb, practically screaming when she spoke, a note of desperation ringing in every word.

"And I can't allow my brother to die in front of me, not again, this is the only choice I have left!"

The girl in the white dress appeared to be on the verge of tears once again as she made a grab for the other's hand, only to be slapped away, causing the small drops to leak out of her eyes. Internally, the girl in red flinched at the contact, a part of her dying inside of her at the next words spoke.

"B-but, you can't betray us, we're your family!"

The girl in red froze at this and a spark of hope began to shine in the younger girl's amber eyes, before it was squashed by Rogue's harsh laughter.

"Don't even try and say that you little bitch, the gods in this place have done nothing but wrong by both my brother and I. You do not realise how long I have actually wanted to do this, to take my revenge at last would be something I would sell my soul for… oh wait, I already did! This is the reason why I joined Chaos all those years ago and the only reason why I didn't kill them when we first arrived was because I didn't want to disappoint Shade. As it is, I needn't have worried it seems!"

With this, she began to stalk forwards, the shadows of the night clinging to her, trying to cover her with every step that she took, but , before she could go too far, the girl in white fell to her knees, sobbing so hard that her shoulder shook with her grief.

"Please Rosy, you can't go… please… You're the only family I have left, you can't just leave me, not like this. Not with Ice missing, Karma in a coma and Shade…"

"Dying? I'm sorry Gypsy, but this is how it has to be. Shade would have done this for me, now it is my turn to save his life."

"He wouldn't, you know he wouldn't agree to this. He would find another way, a way to save you and help his allies at the same time he always does! This isn't something he would want you to do, he would rather die than have you become a traitor for his sake!"

"And what do you know of this? You're just an outsider. Don't even t_ry _to pretend that you know him better than I do. I know he wont approve of me doing this. I know he is going to hate me for it when he wakes up. I know I will be disowned by everyone I care about once again, but so long as he is alive I don't care!"

Her tears were flowing now and her shouts were clearly heard all around camp. Hidden in the infirmary, Alyssa froze in her work of tending Karma's wounds. Dread filling her mind as she ran towards the door, but, even as she began to move, a sudden lethargy washed over her and she fell to her knees, unable to garner enough energy to even push herself to her feet. Completely helpless to do anything else, she remained there and listened as the scene outside the door continued to unfold.

"Just give Lily a little more time, she said that she would be able to find an antidote to the poison! Just a little more Rogue, please?"

"You don't get it do you Gyp? We _have _no time left. And even if we did, that poison is a corrupted form of Primordial blood, there _is _no antidote and we can't afford to experiment with this. I have to go and there is no way for you to talk me out of this!"

Once again, the younger girl made a grab for the older's hand, only to fall as Rogue moved out of the way, sneering down at her old partner.

"You know, now that I think bout it, this may be a tactical move for me. You guys are weak without me and my brother anyway. I may as well join with the winning side before the end, then maybe I would get some comrades that actually possess more than a tiny iota of strength.

At this, the girl in white seemed to crumple slightly, before staring up at the girl she had previously seen as a sister, the light illuminating the flood of tears that slipped down her cheeks silently now. Once more, she reached forward, attempting to snatch the hand of her friend and pull her back onto the right path, but she failed.

Pulling away from a final attempt at restraint from her friend, the assassin set off once more for the tree where she new a liaison would be waiting, her thoughts never leaving the boy in the infirmary who was now almost certainly on his death bed. Even Hades had confirmed it and that was what had made her decision for her. Pushing back tears, she took one last look back to where her friend lay sobbing in a circle of moonlight. Silently now, she ghosted up the rest of the way, making sure that no one would notice her until the very last second. When she reached the tree that marked the boundary line, she would have been shocked by the couple waiting for her, that is, if she had not been completely numbed by shock already. Now, she merely bowed her head a little and greeted them in a dead voice.

"Lady Gaia. Lord Erebus. I made my decision."

"And what would that be child?"

"If you swear to save my brother's life, then I will join your side. Please, I cannot afford to lose him again, even if he hates me for this."

The couple grinned before the man, Erebus waved his hand, sending a tingle of energy through the air round them and transporting the group to the tent they had occupied earlier. Rogue took a deep breath before lowering her hood to revel the face of a young girl with chocolate brown hair and eyes that seemed unable to decide on a single colour. For some reason, this seemed to make the goddess in front of her smile even brighter before speaking.

"Ah yes, Piper Mclean, daughter of Aphrodite and a member of the 5 flaws. Welcome to our army once again. I believe that it is time we restored your less than perfect memories don't you?"

As she spoke, Gaia raised her long sword and placed it at the girl's neck.

~Meanwhile, on Olympus~

The throne room was completely silent as everyone gathered took in the new information, the viewing stone in the middle of the room going black just after the goddess' words. But, just like the calm before the storm, this peace was doomed to die after only a short period of time. With as screech of range harsh enough to have come from a banshee, Aphrodite sprung to her feet, the air around her shimmering in a bloody light that made all those around her shudder involuntary. Staring daggers down at the crystal in front of them all, she hissed out 5 words before vanishing in a scarlet haze that seemed to leave the room darker than ever before.

"Not. My. Daughter. You. BITCH!"

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**A/N: Okay, there you have it, a little betrayal and revelation. Rogue, is, of course, the daughter of Aphrodite that we all know and love… Piper Mclean. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, but don't be afraid to tell me what you think. Anyway, this chapter's question is:**

**What was the name of Reyna's Pegasus?**


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N; Okay This has probably been the longest time I have ever spent between updates of this story, and I am so sorry about that, but it is exam season over here so I have found that my free time available for this story has been massively cut down… but anyway, this chapter is for ****Angelwingz324, ****with cookies here for:**

**TimeLadyofTARDIS**

**Olympus97**

**Ksoccer16**

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**Elliefs**

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**Fate Of Chaos ****(um, I actually think he was named after an old roman family… but peanut butter works too, Tyson would approve!)**

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**Thank you to everyone who reviewed and I promise the updates won't take that long again!**

* * *

Alyssa's PoV:

As soon as Rogue had gone, I felt the lethargy leave me and I instantly resumed my sprint towards the door, even though I knew I would be too late, I still had to try… I barely got outside the door however, when something small and white hit me with the force of a wrecking ball and forced me back into the room I had just left. Moving so quickly that I barely had time to register what was going on, Gypsy sprung off of my chest and over my head, and sprinted over to the seat that I had so recently vacated. Once there, she started patting shade on the head and cursing under her breath, leaving me stunned in the door way.

I could have sworn that, only a moment ago, this girl had been sobbing on her knees in the middle of the square as she tried to stop her friend from joining the enemy, but now she was fussing over her boss with a single minded intensity that was almost frightening… what the Hades was going on here?

Still in shock, all I could do was remain as a statue in the doorway, but soon the boy who had been in a coma for the last two days began to groan and I was jolted out of my stupor, hurriedly joining the small girl by the bed just as he opened my eyes.

"What the…"

"SHADE!"

With that, the young assassin pounced on him looking to all the world like a harmless child who had just been offered a treat and, once again, I was confused with the situation, but, from the smile I could see on a recently arrived Agape's face, I was the only one who didn't get what was going on. Beside me, Shade began to chuckle slightly as he mussed up Gypsy's hair under her veil, petting her on the head while manoeuvring her off of his lap deftly and softly.

"Morning little puppy, now get down!"

At this, she pouted but returned to the seat before answering him, seemingly remembering that only a few moments ago he had been dying.

"It's 2 am Shade."

"What's your point? 2 am is in the morning is it not?"

Now it was Agape's turn to laugh slightly as she moved to stand by his side, running her hand through his hair in a way that made me jealous for no apparent reason, but I held it in as she began speaking.

"Well, well, well little cousin, didn't you give us all a scare. You know, you really have to stop trying to die. My squad seems to spend all of its time healing you… I think we really deserve a break around about now, don't you?"

At this, I couldn't help but stare at the group of them, after all, nothing about this situation made even the slightest bit of sense. It was as though he had just woken up… or at the very most had suffered from a broken bone or two, nothing at all like he had just almost died in front of us. And from the way she was talking, this was almost a daily occurrence with them. What happened to all of the tension and worry that had been so obvious in their expressions only a few hours ago? Ugh, my head hurt!

"Did it work? Where's Rogue?"

At this, everyone went silent for about a fraction of second, and I thought that how they had been acting in front of him was merely that, an act, and that it was about to fall apart in front of him, but soon, Gypsy was giggling like mad and Agape said 2 words that seemed to explain everything to Shade but didn't mean a thing to me.

"Exactly where we wanted, it worked like a charm."

"Ahh… well… that boring."

I swear that my head was about to explode when Karma limped into the room, her hood down revealing the breath taking face of an 18 year old girl with red/gold hair and a milky complexion (although that was slightly marred by the bruise under her left cheek bone) and she grinned down t the boy in the bed.

"You say boring, we say lucky. Next time, think of a better plan that doesn't involve you almost dying. Anyway, we are going to have very… agitated goddess to deal with in approximately 3…2…1."

As if on cue, the room was suddenly filled with a rosy light and a seething Aphrodite stumbled sideways slightly into an armchair that had just appeared beside her. At this, all the assassins cracked up and the goddess of love turned to glare at them.

"And _what _do you lot think is so funny? Why did you stop me from reaching that bitch Gaia? I was going to rip her bloody head off for even thinking about touching my daughter!"

At this, the gathered teens instantly stopped laughing and Shade seemed to choke slightly, before cracking up again.

"Wow, I never would have bet this way!"

At this, Karma grinned at the others and held her hand out, palm up, to the others her golden eyes sparkling with a mischievous glint that was quite unnerving.

"I did, now pay up!"

This seemed to be where Aphrodite drew the line as she then cut off Gypsy's complaint with a deadly cold voice that, although they were only spoken in a whisper, took her voice above all the noise in the room.

"What the Hades are you talking about? My daughter is in the custody of Gaia and you people are _laughing? _Shouldn't you be helping her? Just tell me what this is all about!"

The girl in the golden hoodie seemed to ignore here as she collected in some weird silver coins from the others, but Shade turned to the goddess and smiled sweetly up t her, his amusement clear in his voice.

"Oh, this? We were betting to see who we thought her immortal parent was, I guessed Nemesis cause of her temper, but… looks like I was wrong."

I looked across at Aphrodite who seemed to be in a similar state to me, her mouth hanging open like a goldfish as she stared furiously at the gathered group in front of her. I had pretty much given up on explanations when all of the shadows seemed to converge on one point, and a small girl stepped out into the middle of the room. The effect on the assassins was immediate as then all sank to one knee, bowing their heads at her. Again, I was too surprised to do anything other than gape at her. What the Styx was going on now.

"Hello Mother..."

Wait, did Shade just say… Holy Hephaestus, don't tell me that this girl was… okay, now I feel like I'm going to pass out form strangeness overload! This situation really isn't going how I expected it to!

"You children should really stop being so cruel to those around you! Collect your bets later and explain everything you naughty boy, you forget that the people here do not know of the Omega Protocol so you can't just joke around!"

Although she couldn't have been more than about 8 in appearance, her words held a power that was not to be questioned, and, for some reason, it tickled a memory that had been buried deep into my past. What was more surprising however, was the fact that shade looked truly scared, like a little kid that had just been caught ditching school or something. However, instead of some snarky comment like I had expected, he merely bowed his head and spoke in a deathly serious voice.

"My apologies mother."

With that, Nyx rolled her eyes and sighed a little before turning to offer her hand to Aphrodite who shook it numbly, still not really sure what was happening here, but at least she wasn't alone in this aspect. Soon, the goddess of night turned round and crossed her arm, tapping her shoe irritably on the floor as she waited for someone to speak. Finally, after about half a second, Gypsy stood up and went over to give her a hug as shade began to speak.

"Umm… I guess I better explain the whole poisoning thing right?"

Around him, the others nodded while I stared on in disbelief and he began to rub the back of his neck in a cute way… but I wasn't going to let myself get that distracted, not now anyway.

"er… well... actually, I think that Karma is better at explaining this really."

With tha, the mentioned girl sighed and flipped her hair over one shoulder as she stood up to lean on the foot of the bed and took a deep breath.

"Well, please don't kill us… we kind of had this whole thing planned out… We call it the Omega Protocol and… well… we were all acting."

She waited a moment for that to sink in before she continued on, but, as she spoke, I felt the knot of fear and worry that had been growing in the pit of my stomach over the last few days had been began to freeze and turn into anger as I started to glare at Shade. He had had this all planned out while I had been going out of my mind with worry for the past few days? That little…

"We knew that this scenario was going to come up… well everyone except Ice… though he is a traitor so I think he knew it was going to happen anyway the dirty rotten…"

She started mumbling curses under her breath at this and probably would have gone on like that for a little longer, but then, Gypsy picked up a candle stub from the table next to her and threw it at the other girl's head, dragging her back out of her thoughts.

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that… anyway, cause of my dad, I can see bits of the future, so I knew that this was going to happen, which is why we came up with the very last plan we were going to use… Something had to happen so that Shade would be on his own and we would all be separated so that Gaia's plan could come into action.

After Shade had been poisoned, Rogue had to call in Agape to help me and Gypsy to recover and then she would 'join the other side.' After that… well, I guess you know the rest… sorry about fooling you… and lying… and worrying you… and everything else I guess."

When she finished, we could do little else but stare at her gob smacked until Aphrodite managed to finally splutter out.

"What about Piper, what about my daughter? She claimed to be a child of Nyx… that makes no sense…"

At this, the goddess herself sighed, shifting slightly in her seat, disturbing Gypsy from where she had snuggled up into her lap.

"I guess I should explain that? Very well, all of these 'assassins' as you call them, are my children… or as good as. I gave them my blessing to aid them, and they seem to have adopted me as their mother… rest assured Aphrodite I had no intention of stealing your daughter away from you, but there was an event a few years ago when something happened to her memories."

Aphrodite was glaring now, and I can't say that I blamed her, but we were still too shocked to respond really, so it was Shade that broke the silence.

"Mom, it isn't that I'm not glad you're here, but, why are you? Normally, you leave this just to us. Why the change?"

At this, the slightly joking atmosphere around the goddess seemed to vanish, instantly being replaced with a seething cloak of shadows that encased bother her and the girl on her lap. When it faded away, Nyx appeared to be older, in her late 20's now, but still holding Gypsy in an embrace. Growling slightly, the goddess caused the shadows in the cabin to boil as she answered in a dangerous voice that chilled me to the bone.

"I am here, my child because my _darling _husband seems to have taken my sister's side in this conflict. I always thought that they were a little too close and it is about time that I punish him for his unfaithfulness!"

* * *

**A/N: Okay, bit of a strange chapter, but tell me honestly, love it or hate it? If you don't like, I will rewrite it for you as, in truth, I'm not all that sure about this one. Anyway, this chapter's question is:**

**In the Lost hero, what does Festus the dragon's name mean?**


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: Okay, this time, I have an excuse in the fact that my computer broke and the chapter decided to delete itself. Any way, here is the new chapter, dedicated to: TimeLadyofTARDIS (I think we are in the same time zone -) with (::) cookies here for :**

**Violet63**

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**Just a little more to go for 200 reviews... I am soooo exited!**

* * *

Shade's PoV:

For some reason, as Karma explained, I couldn't help but keep glancing at Alyssa guiltily, but, seeing as though I haven't known her for longer than a week, (an most of that time I was unconscious) it made no sense and I tried to suppress the urge to apologise. I was more than a little shocked to see my mother come down to this place though, from all her rants back home, I thought that she hated this planet, but still, she has always had this rivalry with Gaea over her husband so guess it is only to be expected.

Once Lady Nyx had made her statement, she went right back to fussing over Gypsy, her cold aura dropping entirely as she went back to hyper protective mom mode, judging from the faces of the others in the room, this was not something they expected, but, when you have lived with the woman for as long as I have, you kind of have to get used to it quickly. Now that the drama was done, I allowed myself to fall back into the bed I had been laying on before. Not that I was going to show it to anyone, but my entire body felt like it was on fire, what ever was in that poison was still effecting me too much and I didn't like it.

While I allowed my aching body to rest, I thought back to the time that we had created the omega protocol, though some bits of it are still blurry.

* * *

_I was lounging in my chair in the meeting room, amusing myself by shining a light out of the window into the city and watching the children chase after it when I felt a disturbance in the air behind me. Turning away from my game, I found that it was my sister and smiled, before something in her expression brought me up short. Rogue, the ever calm and menacing one, looked afraid. In an instant, I was on my feet and heading out of the door, following close behind her._

"_What happened?"_

"_It's Karma, she's having a vision again."_

_I relaxed a little at the info, but something still felt wrong, although it was rare, it was not unheard of for a child of Chronos to see glimpses of the timeline, whether it be past or future, and we had been here long enough to have experienced a few of these, but I don't think that I would have been prepared for this even if I had seen a thousand. Before we even entered her private quarters, we could here the screaming._

"_What the…"_

"_I don't know, she was just whimpering when I left."_

_We shared a quick look and soon we were flat out sprinting into her room, but the sight there brought us up short. Normally, if anyone touches the time stream, their eyes glow a strange gold colour, no matter who they were, but this time, this time only, here eyes had gone pure white in a way that shone in the dark room, but that was not the worst thing. Her normally pale cheeks were streaked with deep crimson by the steady streams of blood coming from her eyes… Now I know why Rogue was scared._

_It took a good 15 minutes, and Agape's ingenuity, to calm her down again after that, and Ice had long since one to fret in the corridor, unable to watch his fiancé suffer so much without being able to help her. When she finally came round, it was to find the four of us staring down at her in worry._

"_Where's Ice?"_

"_He' right outside, we can go get him if you…"_

"_No, Leave him out there, I don't want him to here this!"_

_We shared yet another look at this, but it soon faded when Karma continued on to tell us of her vision, detailing everything about a war that, if left unchecked, would seep into the ranks of the primordials and could, ultimately destroy everything, a war that started on earth… We would be able to prevent it, if we planned ahead, but no matter what we did, we couldn't change the set outcome which was the price of peace._

"_One will be lost_

_One will be taken_

_One will betray_

_One will die _

_The last shall be left to wander alone until the end of time"_

_Whichever way you looked at it, this was the end, our very own Omega Protocol._

* * *

I was shaken out of my thoughts by the recognition that everyone in the room was staring at me… damn, looks like I missed a question that I am now expected to answer. Searching into the very depths of my endless intelligence, I managed to come out with the ever intelligent response.

"Huh?"

Immediately I realised that this was not the right thing to say, especially as Aphrodite was glaring at me like I was a piece of gum on the bottom of her shoe… I don't want to sound spineless, but this woman really scared me, I mean, have you seen her nails? They're like knives in their own right! Over in the corner, I herd someone sigh and I noticed for the first time that Karma had drifted back into the shadows.

"What the lady was asking, Shade, was how do you intend to get her daughter back from the enemy?"

Oh yeah, we were still at war here. Unbidden, the warning that we had been left sprang to my mind once again, I tried not to dwell on the "One will die" comment, but it was a little hard after my flashback. After a few seconds, I realised that they were expecting an answer and I winced slightly, scared of saying the wrong thing right bout now.

"Well, that depends… what were the stipulations that got her over there?"

At this, all that was left of our little group turned to look at Gypsy, the little girl with the infallible memory and surprisingly sharp wit. Straightening a little at all of the attention, the small girl flipped her hair over one shoulder and looked at us with her sombre eyes that I always thought seemed a little dead.

"The deal was that, Rogue had to help them and then they would neutralize the poison that was killing Shade."

I couldn't help it then, I just laughed, making everyone else in the room jump and returning Aphrodite's glare back to me. Yeah, some days I feel like I really do have a death wish and, without me telling it to, my mouth started talking without consulting my brain first.

"I don't see why there is a problem in that then. Honestly, for a primordial goddess, Gaea isn't half an idiot."

I went back to laughing after that as everyone else continued to stare at me like I had gone mad. Suddenly, it looked like Alyssa got it because her mouth dropped open, forming a perfect 'o' shape.

"Help them… they said she had to help them, but they didn't say what they needed help with… they left a loop hole!"

At this, I shot her a look to say that she was dead on before turning back to my team mates who were now grinning savagely. I would have been spooked out by their murderous smirks had I not been pretty sure that I had a similar one stretched across my own face. Seemingly unconsciously, Karma stepped out from the dark corner again, drawn forward by her sudden excitement.

"So then, she helps them in a way that would benefit us without seeming to. She helps them _lose _and still keeps her end of the bargain, it's… we might actually be able to win this thing!"

I shook my head a little at this, causing a look of sheer confusion to flash across her face before I sent her a wink that indicated that I knew more than she did, but, when she was about to question me, I motioned my head towards Agape, signalling that she would explain, something that she was more than happy to do in fact. Slowly, as though she was still piecing everything together, she began to voice her theory.

"From what we've seen, their best weapon is the poison right… a substance strong enough to kill even an immortal… but, they neutralised it in Shade's blood. E was suffering from it and now he is still alive. That means that his blood still contains anti-bodies to the toxins…"

She trailed off mumbling to herself about antidotes and the best way to extract white blood cells without damaging them or leaving traces of the haemoglobin that would taint the results and I grinned around everyone in the little room, finishing off her train of thought for her.

"I have no doubt that Agape will be able to isolate the anti-toxins and create an antidote, which means…"

"They just made their own weapon useless!"

After gasping that out, I only had time to see a breathtaking smile grace Alyssa's face for a split second before I was attacked by a wall of golden curls as she pulled me into a bone breaking hug while the others laughed behind her. Perhaps now, things were finally looking up… maybe?

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**A/N; Okay, there you have it, tell me what you think! Anyway, this chapter's question is…**

**Who is the first person we hear of who tries to become the oracle?**


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: Okay, I know it has been a while, but first things first, I GOT A NEW BETA but she complained about me wanting to say here name you now I need to call her Agent one... I swear she watches too many spy movies! Um, okay with the hyperness, I hope you enjoy this chapter which is dedicated to ****Allen R. ****With cookies here for (:: )**

**Louisa 4533**

**MinervaStar**

**FateofChaos **

**Angelwingz324**

**Wolfman613**

**Tojieisnoob**

**Ckies**

**Ericavaldez**

**TimeLadyofTARDIS**

**Mayhaah**

**Candyland7**

**Assassin of Artemis**

**Velocity Drew Warren**

**Someone**

**Guest**

**DanielleDaughterOFDeathanMagic**

**Wow, that's 17 people who got the question right, far more than any other chapter, you guys make me so proud! Now, what you have all been waiting for…**

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Piper's PoV:

I couldn't help but glare up at the canvas tent above my head, wanting nothing more than to slice through the cloth but knowing that I had to behave myself for once in my life, and let me tell you, I was not happy about it. Unable to do anything about my frustration about my situation, I sighed and rolled over so that my vision was obscured by the brown wall. I knew full well why I was here and what I was supposed to do, though it had been hidden from my memories, I had still acted upon my role in the Omega Protocol without even thinking about it, but then, that is only to be expected since the plan had been set up by the primordial goddess of perfection but that wasn't why I was so upset. No. Why I was upset was because of my tampered memories.

Now that Gaea had lifted the veil over my mind, I now remembered everything perfectly, from the moment Chaos had first approached me to the time where my past was tampered with. I wasn't particularly happy with the fact that Nyx decided to erase my memories at the same time as she did so with Shade, after all, he had asked for it and I had not, but she let me remember a few things, such as Jason…

Unbidden, a flash of pain cut through me as I realized that I would never see my boyfriend ever again, although we had been informed that all of the main heroes of the last two wars were made immortal, it appeared that he did not want to take them up on the offer as he thought me dead. Now I was here without him, immortal, powerful and very, very alone. Trying to distract myself from the pain, I allowed my mind to wander back to the time of the war, and my last days of being human. My last days with _him._

_~3__rd__ day of the final battle of Olympus~_

_With a swift thrust of my dagger, the Cyclops in front of me dissolved into a flurry of golden specs that blinded me for a split second, but it was a single moment too long. My reflexes deadened by the constant exertion of the last few days, I was completely unable to dodge the oncoming blow from a nearby earth borne and I went stumbling backwards, falling hard on the slick earth. An intense pain shot up from my left ankle and I knew it was broken._

_Trying not to let the fear show in my face and attempting to ignore the pain that was making my vision grow black around the edges, I glared defiantly back at the monster in front of me as it prepared to deliver the finishing blow. However, before the last of my strength faded, I was able to make out the glowing blade of riptide pierce through my attackers chest and I vaguely realized that Percy had just saved me for the hundredth time today, then I must have passed out._

_When I woke up, I was leaning against a large stone, away from the battle, and my first thought was that Jason had found me unconscious on the side of the mountain and dragged me away from danger, but that idea was soon crushed by a small girl jumping from the branches of a nearby tree and running towards me. As she placed a cool hand upon my brow, I couldn't help but feel a little confused by her actions. I was sure that I had never seen her before._

"_Who are you?"_

_The girl seemed to be a little shocked at my sudden question, but she only stepped back and beamed down at me, her brilliant smile contrasting delicately with her coffee brown skin and midnight locks. I was distracted by her eyes which were like mini black holes, but then she spoke in an oddly lilting voice that seemed to suggest that she was amused by my question._

"_The one who just saved your life, so don't go getting shirty with me young lady."_

_Shirty? And who the Hades was she to call me young lady when she looked only about half my age, but I held my tongue. I had regained enough of my strength back to feel the power that was coming off of her in startlingly strong waves so I decided not to push it and rather, to play nice._

"_Okay, I'm sorry. Thank you for saving me, put what do you want from me… My Lady?"_

_It was a safe bet that she was a goddess, no human of demigod had a scent that strong, but the fact that I had guessed it seemed to please her in some way._

"_Ah, a smart child after all then. Yes, I am here to offer you a deal Ms Mclean will you take me up on it?"_

_I felt my eyes narrow when she mentioned my surname, but I decided not to question that particular part of her statement._

"_You didn't tell me what that deal contains…"_

"_Ah yes, details, details. In short, tell me Piper, what is it that you hate the most about yourself in this very moment?"_

_Again, the girl took me by surprise, none of her words actually answered my questions, only creating 10 more, but this was an easy one for me to answer._

"_The fact that I am too weak. My friends are being killed and I can't do anything about it!"_

_My frustration was growing with every word I spoke so that I was shouting by the end, but it seemed like this girl anticipated my response and was actually pleased by my answer. Even as I watched her, the girl's figure flickered into the form of a young woman who offered me her hand, helping me to my feet before she spoke again._

"_Then I believe that we can reach a deal. If you come with me, if you decide to become my champion, I can help in this war. If not, I cannot involve myself in the battles of mortals. As you so rightly guessed before I am a goddess, one of the elder race. My name is Nyx, ruler of the night. However, if you take up my offer, then I can join in, as two of my champions are involved in the conflict. So, what do you say?"_

_I thought about that for a moment, all I had to do was help her out, and then she would help us to win this war? But what about the others… what about Jason, what would they feel like if I just ran off with this woman, never to see them again? Wait a minute… did she just say two?_

"_You said two, who is the other person? Do I know them? Why haven't we heard of this before, if they are your champion, shouldn't they be quite powerful?"_

_At this, her smile faded for a second, but before I could be sure about exactly what had happened, her expression lightened again and she grinned sheepishly at me._

"_Percy Jackson actually. But he hasn't actually accepted my offer yet, he is still thinking it over, but then, he will not allow the girl to die and, if the battle drags on, the daughter of Athena will fall, that is unavoidable…"_

_She trailed off at this looking a little disheartened, but then she looked at me again with a smile shining from her eyes._

"_So?"_

_I thought about this offer for a while, the other side had the help of a Primordial, wouldn't it make the fighting easier for us if we gained the aid of one too? But I would never be able to see my friends again would I? If I was working for such a powerful goddess, that seemed like a distinct possibility. But if I did not accept this, would we be able to win the war? _

_I was still thinking over the question, completely lost in my own thoughts when I heard a shout above me and my head snapped upwards just in time to see Jason being smashed down into the mountain by Peloreus and I felt like my decision was being made for me. However, there was still one question that needed to be asked._

"_Quickly, if we say yes, what will happen to us? What will we tell everyone?"_

_Once again, her expression darkened, but, even though I waited for her mood to rise again, it remained dark and troubled. When she spoke, her words were filled with regret._

"_I am afraid, my dear, that in the minds of your friends, you will have died… and the son of Poseidon? He will be labeled a traitor."_

_If what she said before wasn't enough, this new statement ensured that I was frozen in place staring at her in shock. Okay, I can accept being classed as dead, but why must Percy be branded as a traitor? Loyalty is his fatal isn't it? Through my amazement, I only managed to choke out one word in reply._

"_Why?"_

"_Because I need to make sure that your friends do not search for you. The world I live in is dangerous, and if you take up this chance, you will be blessed with immortality and able to endure it, but your friends will be killed if they try to chase after you. This is for their good my child."_

_I almost wasn't paying any attention to the last part of her explanation as I could see the giant closing in on my boyfriend as he struggled to regain his feet. In my heart I knew that I only had one choice from the very second that she offered me a way to end this awful war._

"_I accept your offer mi'lady."_

_I fell to my knees as I spoke and I felt her hand rest on the top of my head as I finished._

"_Now, arise as my champion Piper McLean, daughter of the dove and child of love."_

From that day onwards, I had served lady Nyx fully and it had been a good life for all of us, even Percy, though he could not help but be more than a little cut up about the fact that everyone he still loved viewed him as a traitor and cursed his name. More than once I found him crying in the dark whilst watching a rather depressed Annabeth go through her life. The happiest I ever saw him was when she had been granted godhood in light of all her efforts towards the aid of Olympus. It was when she changed her name in order to forget her past that he finally began to recover. He had changed his name to Shade and begged the Lady to erase his memories of his past life and she had happily accepted. Though why she had to take mine I had no idea.

I lay like that for a little while until an insistent beeping started sounding in my ear, dragging me back to reality as I answered the communicator device on my wrist. Gaea really was an idiot if she hadn't thought to check me for any such thing. I couldn't help but smile when I saw Gypsy's face appear in the holographic image.

"Mama say's that it's time for us to start the plan. Attack phase Alpha, Meda Orin. Keep yourself hidden and try to bring them down from the inside. It is time for the 5 flaws of the night to make their appearance for real!"

I couldn't help the feral snarl that was pulled from my throat as I smirked at her words. Oh, this was going to be fun. The idiotic earth mother was about to get what was coming to her for ruining my life all that long ago!

"Got it, Rogue over and out!"

Oh yes, this was really going to be fun!

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**A/N: Okay there is the newest chapter, a big thanks for everyone who has reviewed and I hope that that has answered many of your questions. In the next chapter, get ready for the start of a war hee hee. Anyway, here is the new question:**

**What animal was Percy's pillow that was murdered by Octavian? –sob- the poor teddy :'( I nearly cried at that bit!**

**P.S Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, because of my exams I have a limited amount of time to write new chapters so i put a poll on my profile to see which PJO fic I should update more often, don't be afraid to vote for your favorite!**


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: Okay, I know I only updated yesterday, but the response was so amazing that I just HAD to update again. I can never tell you guys how much I love you! Okay, this chapter is for: ****MinervaStar. ****That poor Panda *sob* can I have one please? Anyway, I also have a huge stack of cookies here for:**

**Pupdog2000**

**Olympus97**

**Velocity Drew Warren**

**Angelwingz324**

**FateofChaos ****(really? My friends and I started looking for them, no such look though :()**

**CandyLand7**

**Athena2000 ****(you have a good memory)**

**Lillideathflower **

**I amtheawesomelikepotatoes ****(Still loving your name)**

**Brackenfern**

**Aoe123**

**EnigmaticPerson ****(you know, I really wish you had an account cause I really want to talk to you, you sound… interesting!)**

**Okay, enough with me Blabbing, on with the story!**

* * *

Karma's PoV:

I shivered a little at the look on Rogue's face as she signed off, it was bad enough when she grinned normally, but, with her normal face, it was just plain evil. Still, we had a job to be done and I was not going to accomplish that by standing here and staring at my watch now was I? Unfortunately, when I turned back to the group from looking over Gypsy's shoulder, it was to face some very annoying goddesses who seemed to be intent on finding out every little secret of the universe. Hello, do these people know we're at war?

"You know, I heard that mentioned before, the flaw thing, but what does it mean?"

Nope, obviously they don't. Sighing, I slipped back into the comforting shadows around the edge of the room. Ice had always taken me away to dark places on our dates, him being the son of the moon goddess and all, so the shadows that caressed my skin helped a little, but then I would remember what had happened and a burning anger began to form in the pit of my stomach. Quickly, I shook my head to suppress this feeling, anger would help nothing at this moment.

Before I answered the girl's question (look, I don't care whether or not Alyssa is a goddess, she is still _younger _than me) I closed my eyes and prayed to my father for strength, adopting my emotionless face that I so often used in combat.

"That would be us, we are… were the 5 flaws of Nyx."

"My Champions."

Mother decided that it would be better to state the obvious apparently, still, I wasn't too concerned about that, I was too busy trying not to show the flash of pain that shot through me. Ice had been my fiancée for the last 2000 years, why on earth would he do this to me now, to us? Because of my pent up emotions, my words came out a little harsher than I had first intended them to, but, whatever, these were the people asking annoying questions after all.

"Look, I can tell you know that your boss aint going to be too happy about being kept out of the loop in this particular instance, and I really don't feel like repeating myself so can you please gather all of the other Olymp- GAH!"

For a split second, it felt like the world around me twist sharply, forcing me to either close my eyes again or throw up. Fortunately, I chose the former but, I could tell from the wrenching noises behind me that Gypsy had decided to play the idiot. Oh well, boo sucks to be her I guess, but she can't really blame other people for her own stupid choices, daft little kid, I wish for once that she would just grow up and act her age... Maybe I should get her a Zimmer frame to help with that?

Grinning slightly at the thought, I finally allowed my eyes to open slightly and the smirk slid straight off of my face. In front of us stood a rather annoyingly satisfied Love goddess who was looking more than a little vindictive as she glared down at us. Yes, I could definitely see the family resemblance between her and our rather sadistic unit lieutenant. Her face not once losing its cocky half smile, the goddess turned one her heels to address the people behind her and it was with great annoyance that I realised that the brat had teleported us straight into the throne room. Yeah, real mature.

I could tell that no one had been expecting us as they were all frozen in place in their thrones and it would have been quite a comical sight had we not just been abducted and taken to Olympus without our wanting to.

Over in the corner, Zeus seemed to be in the middle of a gigantic migraine as his elder brother and sister argued across him. It was probably a good idea that their thrones were so far apart actually, Hades looked just about to kill the goddess of agriculture. Over in the side thrones, the others seemed to occupied with who knows what, but, as soon as Aphrodite bowed, they all straightened in their seats trying to recover their image. Yeah, good luck with that.

"My Lord Zeus, I have brought forward the remaining Assassins and their mistress to explain something _else _they have been hiding from us. On their request, of course."

With that, she stiffly marched back and took her place between her sister's in law who each put a hand on her arm comfortingly. Well, that was rude… I thought the icy reception was Khione's trade mark not hers? My thoughts were pulled from this track at the look on the gods' faces as they slowly worked out that the young woman stood behind us, cuddling Gypsy close to her chest, was actually an all powerful primordial goddess. After about 10 minutes of silence, Nyx seemed to realise that nothing was going to happen with her in here so she placed our 3rd in command down gently and unravelled the girl's arms.

"I'll wait outside then… No need for me to make you all uncomfortable than you already are!"

With that she faded back into the shadows leaving us alone in a room full of angry gods, gee, thank you mother, what did you get me for my birthday? A giant, man eating octopus that hasn't been fed in the last 400 years and sees me as a very pretty food parcel?

"Well then, what is it that you wish to say dears? It must be very important for you to come all the way here."

I managed to stop myself from smiling at the goddess of the hearth just in time, but she was just so sweet that I couldn't help it. Clenching my hands into fists, I dug my nails into my skin so that I wouldn't do something sappy and replied coolly.

"Alyssa was asking what it meant when we were referred to as 'flaws of Nyx' and we decided that it is an explanation best heard by the entire council as it is our main strategy in combat."

They all looked at each other at that, but it was Athena who broke the silence, seemingly as keen as her daughter to discern our secrets.

"And…? What does it mean?"

I sighed at this. Gods it was going to be difficult to explain, especially as it didn't really make sense unless you had experienced it, or knew a little about our human lives. Frantically, I looked behind me in search of help, only to find that Gypsy was staring at her father as though she had never seen her before in her life, and Shade seemed quite happy staring into the eyes of Alyssa… great now our captains in love with a goddess. Taking a deep breath, I turned back to the others in the room, deciding to start out with a simple question.

"Er, right so… first off, have any of you ever noticed anything completely and utterly strange happen around one of our members? Probably around Rogue as she has the worst control over her temper?"

At my words, the goddess of love stiffened and glared at me before hissing out a reply that seemed to shock all of those around her.

"Her name is _Piper _and yes, that time when she found Shade poisoned, when she started yelling at Gaea, all the monsters around her were destroyed and the demigods complained of feeling weakened."

What? When the Hades had this happened? Still, at least it got across my point pretty easily and I almost sighed in relief, still, the other gods were muttering amongst themselves uneasily again and I rolled my eyes, could they not be surprised for one second? Still, I allowed a feral grin to grace my lips as I responded.

"Then you have already experienced one. We are called the 5 flaws of Nyx because we each control an emotion that is a common killer for heroes. Rogue," (cue hissing from a psychopathic goddess again) "holds power over weakness, she can drain the energy of anyone she wishes."

At this, they all seemed too shocked to chunter in the background, well, all accept for the god of war who was leaning forwards in his chair as though he was about to be given the best present of is life.

"And the rest of you? What do you control?"

Okay, I was not going to go through the entire list of it by myself so I turned round and booted Shade in the ankle, though, apparently, he is able to multitask as his eyes never once left the girl as he spoke out.

"Desperation. It can make some enemies more… talkative."

Okay, cue the creepy glint in his eye that he always got when he talked about his line of work. I learnt the hard way a few years ago that you should never accompany him on interrogation missions. I only went once and I still have nightmares about it. The next up was Gypsy who skipped to the front of us and gave a mock bow.

"Fear is mine, it can be quite entertaining to see your enemies run off screaming before you even draw your weapon. That's when the hunt kicks in!"

Okay, is it just me, or are all of us sounding more than a little deranged? I flinched a little as I thought about the power Ice possesses that is now in the enemies hands, the power that he would now describe as arrogance. Fighting back tears I stepped forwards and rested my hand on the little brat's shoulder.

"And mine is remorse. That is why we are called the flaws of Nyx, and why we are so capable at our jobs."

I felt the little pixi shift underneath me as she got ready to make a new declaration, but I only just figured out what she was going to say before the first word came out of her mouth, far to late for me to clamp it shut.

"But we are also the blessings of Chaos."

That little IDIOT, does she not have any idea about what the term 'secret' means? Clearly not, but I would have thought that she had enough sense not to blurt out something like that in front of people as power hungry as the gods right? Thankfully, we were saved another explanation, by an explosion that shook the throne room and a glowing screen that popped out of no where with that red headed Hecate girl in the middle of it.

"Er guys, I think you need to get down here now… if not, you might miss all the fun."

With that, the girl was gone and the gods fell into chaos. Oh joy Rogue, what have you done now?

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**A/N: and there you have it. I'm not going to ask the question this time as I promised my beta that she could do it… So I'm sorry in advance if it doesn't make sense. Anyway, thank you, and I know I said the war started in this chapter, but I realised that I needed to put this in before the fighting started, sorry!**

* * *

_Agent 1: __YAY I get to do the question, and HEY I make perfect chocolate, blue berry hub cap... I mean sense... er yeah, on with the question um... why did I ask to do this? erm no, that's not it er..._

_What did Rachel attack Kronos with? Yeah, that'll do._

_Oh yeah, before I get locked back in the dark again, Ela said I had to say hi to someone... the enigmatic person was it? Anyway, hi!_

-walks off- Now do I get my cookie Els?


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: Hey guys, just a quick note, I'm beginning to write a short branch fic about Gypsy's past as I have had people asking about it, called "Hart and Soul" I think I will put it up soon, but not until Gypsy's parentage is reviled or else it will give thins away. Anyway, this chapter is for ****TimeLadyofTARDIS ****(why don't I just dedicate the whole book to you?) With cookies here for:**

**Athena2000**

**Louisa4533**

**Allen r**

**Ericavaldez889**

**Ksoccer16**** (yes, from our conversations, you are very deranged)**

**MinervaStar**

**Elliefs**

**Candyland7**

**Velocity Drew Warren**

**Assassin of Artemis**** (no, they didn't know about it being him, but they planed for a traitor, Karma saw it sorry if that is not clear)**

**Kuro Yuuki-Hime**

**Iamtheawesomelikepotatoes**

**Gvillafania**

**Wolfman16**

**Pupdog2000 **

**Daughter of Kronos**** (tell your dad that I didn't ask the question so he should kill my beta not me plz)**

**Willowskieth**

**Wannabe101**

**Enigmatic Person**** (OH NO, YOU'RE BEING CONTROLLED BY THE EVIL TITAN LORD! I would really get that checked if I were you…)**

**Mayhaah ****(Percy… is that you? FYI Perce, you can't eat hairbrushes… just so you know… don't kill me)**

**Gg**

**Guest**

**Man, you guys are eating me right out of cookies, 23 people got that question right so no Sara, no cookies for you! Anyway, on with the story…**

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Shade's PoV:

Okay, I knew that staring was rude and everything, but I just couldn't help it. Ever since that time when the poison had first started affecting me, it was like a little door had appeared in the back of my mind that I just couldn't reach. Not just that, but even though I knew it held something important behind the sealed entrance, there was a part of me holding back, as though it didn't want it to be released. As I said, it had started when I had first been knocked unconscious, but now the feeling had become all the more intense since I had woken up, like I had gone from standing 10 meters away to being so close that I only had to reach out one hand and it would open. What made it worse however, was that I was completely positive that, what ever lay behind that door, had something to do with Alyssa, hence, the staring.

I came out of my thoughts when Karma booted me, rather unceremoniously, in the shin, nearly sending me into a madly giggling imp that went by the name of Gypsy, but fortunately, I managed to regain my balance so as not to look like a total prat in front of the entire Olympian council… or an empty room, that works too… where did everyone go?

Seeing my confused look, Karma glared and rolled her eyes at me in such a way that I was sure that I was looking at Rogu… I mean Piper. I felt a pang of pain g through me at that thought I mean, yeah we aren't actually related, and yes, I was the one who sent her deep into enemy territory, but I couldn't help but feel a little worried for my team mate and 'sister' after all, if she was killed, the second in command after her would be *shudders* Gypsy, and trust me when I say that the world isn't ready for that… not world is. Still, back to the matter of us being faced with an empty room.

"They left Shade, I think the battle had started back on earth, they needed to help the demigods."

I nodded slightly at that, it did make sense, before I felt a grin stretch across my face at a sudden thought that decided to use that moment to flitter through my head.

"So, does this mean that we get to go there and show off?"

"Only if you say so O' fearless leader."

Karma spoke the last bit with such sarcasm that it didn't even need the mock bow attached to the end. Even though I knew that it was an insult meant for me, I couldn't help but smirk slightly as I restrained my laughter. I guess, even in the midst of a crisis, some things never really change.

"Okay, shall we head off then my lady."

She glared at me as I offered her my arm, but before she could openly protest, or hit me (most probably the latter seeing as thought she was only ever in a good mood when she was with… lets just say 'he who shall not be… no wait, that's ripping off Harry Potter, how about 'He who cannot be named without swearing.' Yeah, that'll do.) I flashed out of the throne room on top of the mountain and headed straight into the carnage that was once a peaceful camp for half human children, ah, fun times…

Alyssa's PoV:

By the time we had arrived from our meeting, (it had taken a long time to get Zeus to give a definitive answer) the battle was in full swing and I'm pretty sure that I could see some of the cabins on flames. Not good.

Acting more on reflex than anything, I had pulled my dagger out when I first arrived, something that I was insanely glad about a split second later when I swung round and used it to pierce the skull of an on coming hell hound, reducing it to little more than a pile of glittering dust. After that, I don't think I can tell you clearly what happened as it was all a matter of action, instinct and reaction, then repeat. You get the picture I'm sure. Still, I remember being on edge. Nearly 20 minutes had passed and the Assassins were no where to be seen… scratch that, Ice was being a proper nuisance and fighting 12 demigods at once, but none of the others were here, not even Piper. However, that all appeared to change when a large bolt of sea green lightning hit the top of half-blood hill (at the foot of which we were now fighting) and a pitch black shadow began to sprint down from the top at a break neck pace.

For a short while, the battle remained thick around me, but soon, Gaia seemed to realise that it was probably a better idea to aim for Shade and his friends first leading to a lull in the action around me, something that I was quite glad of, or I would have been if it hadn't been for the fact that every single creature that had previously been attacking the people around me were now focusing on the 3 teenagers who now seemed to be ginning quite savagely as they hacked away at the monsters around them. Creepy.

I tried to follow everything that was happening in that clearing, but it was getting rather hard with the amount of gold dust that was gathering around them in a mini cyclone, but I'm pretty sure I saw more than I want to. For example, I'm pretty sure that I saw Gypsy flip onto the back of an empousai before the she demon lit up like a torch. Surprisingly actually, the flame was black… I thought that only hell fire was that colour, or was this a Nyx thing?

Over in the other side, I don't even think that Karma was touching her opponents, more like they were killing each other or simply just exploding where they stood… I looked on quickly, pretty sure that I didn't want to know how she was doing that… from what I had seen earlier, that girl did not have a stable mind. A good testimony to that was probably the fact that she was laughing.

I looked for shade after that, but I couldn't see him anywhere, sure enough, with his ability to travel through shadows, he could have been where ever he wanted, but it was still a bit worrying that I couldn't keep an eye on him, it made me feel more than a little nervous…

It went on like this for a little while, with the assassins in view moving at an inhuman speed that a lesser being wouldn't have been able to follow, but, unfortunately, it seemed as though my godly powers allowed me to see the violence and gore and… you know what, I'm not going to say. Suffice to say that even Ares was looking a little pale in response to the carnage in front of him, and he normally _enjoyed _this kind of thing.

Within 10 minutes, I felt a hand on my elbow and I jumped a mile, only to turn and see the grinning, blood splattered face of the youngest assassin, Gypsy, her caramel eyes dancing with a weird light that I was sure had something to do with all of the death she had just caused, even though it was still a little strange to imagine such a cute kid being such an accomplished killer.

"Shade said that you need to see to all the injured campers instead of gawking at everything. He says that there are people that really need help and Apollo should close his mouth because he looks like a fish."

And with that, she was gone, disappearing back into the sea of monster **(A/N: sorry, just had to do that) **before said god could even begin spluttering in protest. Still, she was right, and, from that moment on, we went to work, pulling the campers away from the battle ground, though progress was slow as we couldn't help but stop and stare occasionally. Still, as the battle waged on, it seemed like our allies were tiring quickly which, although it shouldn't have seeing as though, between just the 3 of them they were fighting an entire army, shocked us immensely, all of them beginning to amass injuries under the relentless onslaught, and mom called us all together.

"We can't let this go on, we need to help them!"

"But if we do, we would leave the camp unguarded, most of the kids are injured and the barrier is about as effective as a feather duster in keeping out the monsters."

Everyone turned to stare at Apollo in awe… did he just say something intelligent? But we didn't really have time to be overly amazed as the area around the assassins was getting smaller and smaller. The monsters could sense the growing exhaustion and they were pressing their advantage, not allowing the enemies any time to rest.

"Look, what ever we decide, we need to do it quickly, we're running out of time…"

I commented, cutting off what ever Ares was about to say, but I didn't really notice as all of my attention was focused on a certain person who was missing from the fighting, the dead bodies of his opponents strewn across the grass.

"wait, where's…"

I never got to finish my thought because, right then, there was a shout and someone Demeter crashed into me with a completely shocked look on her face.

Acting upon reflex, I span around to see the cause of her stumble, only to come face to face with the missing assassin, but he wasn't looking at me. Instead, he was staring at the floor with a horrified expression, and, as I followed his expression, I noticed why.

Curled up on the ground, her full face visible for the first time even though she was curled into a ball around the bloody hole in her rapidly staining clothes, was Gypsy. The little brat that all of the others seemed to treat as a little sister… or pet, was now crumpled up on the floor, looking broken as her life blood rushed to meet the ground, her veil pushed off to one side so that her chocolate curls could fall across her too pale face. Behind me, I heard a half choked word that was barely legible as a god fell to his knees, pressing a hand to her forehead. I was only able to make out the word 'Hart' as the entire world went black around us.

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**A/N: There you go, that was the new chapter, and a little bit revealed about the prophecy. I hate doing this, I really love Hart, but it has to be done. Anyway, over to my beta for the question, I don't feel like doing it this time. *Goes over to a corner to sulk.***

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_Agent 1: WAH, evil Ella, give me next chapter... and cookies! Anyway, got the rant out, now she lumps the question on me again... Whhhhhhhhyyyy? CAn't this chapter go without a question, ow, okay Ella, go back to the emo corner where you came from... and put the knife away! Um, so, er... Oh, I know:_

_What weapon does Tyson ask for at the end of the Last Olympian? _


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: Okay, I know I haven't updated this story in a while, but I am finally glad to announce that my exams have finished, I was soooo happy! Anyway, this chapter is for: ****Athena2000 ****with cookies here for:**

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Shade's PoV:

As soon as the fighting started for real, I slipped away from the others. It didn't seem right that the army had launched a full scale attack yet neither Gaea or Erebus could actually be sensed on the battle field, that, and Rogue was no where to be seen either. As I darted around from shadow to shadow, I couldn't help but begin to feel the prickling of fear in the pit of my stomach. Sure, she could look after herself, and deliver quite a mean right hook if she wanted too, but it was still more than a little unnerving not being able to find her anywhere on the battle field.

As I travelled, I was able to get a good idea of how the battle was going and, more annoyingly than anything, I was also able to clearly see that the gods were doing absolutely nothing. You would have thought that these weren't their kids being killed in front of them honestly. A quick trip to Gypsy soon sorted that out however, and I allowed myself to be pulled away by the tide of the battle once again.

Although I couldn't help stepping in sometimes, I tried to stay out of the fighting as much as possible, attempting to conserve my strength in case of having to fight one of the primordials later, the exact same reason why Agape had been forced to stay within the camp boundaries, but you can't exactly say I wasn't helping. After all, I completely lost count of the number of monsters I had to cut through to pull out one group of kids who seemed to have the fighting ability of mice… if we get through this, I swore that I would set up a new training scheme for the camps, if their soldiers were only at this level, gods help them if they ever have to fight in a proper war.

I carried on like that until I felt the temperature drop several degrees and, although there were still several hours before sunset, the sky went practically black. I immediately stopped moving and looked for the source of the change, along with all the others around me, but even before I reached the spot that was ringed with gods, I couldn't help but feel a cold sensation deep in my limbs… And then I saw them, Gypsy lying on the ground, her father clutching her limp hand as the rest of her blood seeped into the rust coloured grass beneath her prone body. Immediately, the chill in my bones turned into an burning fury that threatened to blur my vision and my eyes settled on the boy behind her, the one holding the slick dagger made from Stella Silver, the weapon of Chaos.

"ICE!"

And then I lunged.

Alyssa's PoV:

"Hart!"

That one strangled cry was all I heard before I was pushed out of the way by Hades as he dropped to his knees by the girl. At first, the whole situation was too much of a shock to register properly and I was only able to stare down at the two as the assassin turned to the weeping god beside her. Seeing her eyes open, he once again tried to talk to her.

"Hart."

"Hey daddy."

So it was true then, the girl was a child of the underworld… I don't think that anyone would have guessed from her personality, but I guess it explained the hell fire earlier. Still, it didn't explain why she took the dagger that was meant for Demeter, her father's enemy…

Seeming to struggle slightly, Gypsy tried to push herself up into a sitting position, but only managed to get half way up before she began to cough up blood, adding more stains to the front of her white gown.

"Shhh, lay still child, you will only make the injury worse… maybe we can…"

Even as he spoke, his hands fluttering over the girl's wounds, everyone could tell that Apollo was trying to put a brave face on things. What ever the weapon had been, it was a lot more powerful than any we possessed, even the skin around the wound seemed to begin to burn away slowly as we watched, making the girl gasp out in pain.

"Owww. Daddy…?"

At this pitiful whimper, Hades seemed to break from his trance, shifting around slightly so that he could grasp her hand in a comforting manner. In the back of my mind, I was amazed by the sheer love that could be felt between the two, but now was not the time think about it.

"I'm here Hart, you're going to be fine…"

To all of our surprise, the girl laughed slightly, before the movement ended in a cough that spilled more blood over her lips. Still, she turned up to smile sweetly up at all of us.

"That's a lie dad, you know better than anyone when someone is about to die. And anyway," She shifted around so that she was lying down again before she resumed talking. By now, her skin was paler than that of her father's and it gleamed with a thin sheen of sweat similar to when… no! "the blade was poisoned, you can't cure that!"

She was still smiling slightly, but the action seemed more than a little forced, like she was trying not to make the death god cry even more, though it didn't seem to be working as the tears were spilling, unchecked, down his cheeks. For one second, I felt a faint squeeze in my heart but then I realised something.

"But earlier, in the infirmary, you said that Agape could make an antidote from Shade's blood, that's why she stayed behind right? Maybe she can heal you?"

I had no idea why I was so desperate to believe that this wound was curable, I had only known her for a week at most, but even as I thought that, some images came unbidden to my mind.

Gypsy throwing the match to preserve Hermes' pride.

Gypsy springing on Shade and hugging him hard when he first woke up.

Gypsy snuggling into Nyx's arms as everyone sat around and talked.

Before I knew it, I was crying slightly and I felt the urge to kneel beside her, but then she turned her head slightly to look at me and I saw her eyes clearly for the first time. Eyes that made her seem so much older than her appearance, eyes that were full of years of pain and still she smiled warmly up at me.

"No, it wouldn't work, the toxins were treatable in Shade as they were injected into his muscle first, the poison is already in her heart and anyway, the wound was made by a stellar silver blade, there is no way to treat that…"

Agape trailed of mournfully and I vaguely realised that she must have noticed Hades' effect on the field and come running. Another part of me wondered why we had not been attacked yet but I was cut off when the small girl began to seize slightly for a few seconds before falling on the ground again, white as a sheet and completely still.

As one, everyone in the surrounding area fell silent and we all clearly heard the enraged yell of Shade as he sprinted down the hill towards the lone figure which I now realised was Ice, but, before he could reach the other boy, he was cut off by a golden wall that wrapped around the assassin like a glittering dome. At first, I thought that it must be a shield put forward by the enclosed boy, but his panicked expression told otherwise, and that was before the shadows behind him began to boil and move away to reveal an shaking Karma. For a moment, everything was still, like the calm before a storm, but, just like that, the moment passed with an explosion from the golden clad girl.

"Moron! You absolute BASTARD, we TRUSTED you and _this _is what you do? Why Ice, do you enjoy stabbing us in the back? Was one betrayal not enough for you? Are you happy now, now that you've killed one of your best friends?"

With each question, she took a step closer to the boy, and he took a step back, until he hit the wall, and she still stalked forwards, literally backing him into a corner with no where left to run. Desperately, his eyes snapped back to the other's face.

"Please, Karma, listen to me…"

"No, I'm done listening to you. Gypsy was like my little sister and you just killed her, or did you miss that part?"

By this point the very air around us seemed to whip up into a hurricane, centring around the girl who was now shaking violently as though she was restraining herself from attacking, or, at least, that was what I thought, until Ice started screaming.

Before, in the throne room, when she had said that her power was remorse, I hadn't exactly given much thought to the child of Chronos, but now, I remembered something she had told me in the arena several days ago. _"We don't get our codenames for nothing you know!" _Karma, the act of fate that returned any misdeed you may have committed back onto you… while I was watching her now, it seemed as though something finally clicked in my head. It wasn't regret she caused, it was pain, all the pain you had ever inflicted, sent back to you in one go… no wonder the monsters had exploded around her.

Through the gaps in the agonized yells, I could vaguely make out the sound of combat resuming around us and when I checked the spot where Shade had been before, he was nowhere in sight, obviously he had decided to take his annoyance on the remaining monsters, and, from the absence of the death god, they must have had the same idea. I thought about going to join them, but at that moment, the dome shattered and Karma was thrown backwards as a winged figure began to descend from the darkened sky, landing in front of the now panting boy before turning to face us. Erebus.

"Ah, what a shame about the girl, we had someone who sorely wanted to meet her again, but, what are you going to do? Still, I can't allow any more of my Wife's little soldiers to die today, what would I say to her if I did?"

"I quite frankly do not give a damn _dear_ husband, but let me tell you now, you will pay for the death of that child a hundred fold by the time I am done with you."

My head snapped round from the cold fury in the words that came from behind me where Nyx seemed to have just fought her way through to us from the gold dust in her raven hair, but even though her expression was enough to make the gods quail, Erebus only laughed as he scooped down to pick up the boy by his feet.

"Ah, now, isn't this a cozy reunion? You know what darling? It reminds me of the night we met, doesn't it you? Ah, anyway, I must be off now, consider yourselves at peace for the moment, you have earned a little rest at least."

Even before he had finished speaking, the shadows, already elongated by Hades' temper, stretched out to claim all of the remaining monsters in the army and their master. Within seconds, the only bodies left in the field were those of fallen heroes. When we had ascertained that this was not just another trick, we all shared a haunted look. Yes, we had won a temporary truce for this war, but at what cost?

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**A/N: okay, there you have it, the new chapter, I hope you liked it. Anyway, my Beta has gone off into a huff about the cookie thing last chapter (though she does say to say thanks for the present from a certain reviewer) and because I accidentally called her by her name in the last chapter so it looks like I get to do the question again, yay!**

**In Greek mythology, who was Hemera? (the one who I made the mother of Agape, when, in actuality, the primordial of love is someone I completely made up.)**


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N: Okay, I know it has been a while, but some things happened, then other things happened and I don't really feel like talking about most of them. Still, I was really happy to see the response this story still received even though it had long since been (almost) abandoned so you inspired me to write again. This chapter is for ****Willowskieth. ****With cookies here for:**

**TimeLadyofTARDIS**

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**And, as an added note, we broke 300 reviews last chapter, YAYAYAYAYAY! Anyway, here is your new chapter, as ordered ****.**

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Piper's PoV:

I knew from past experience that Gaea was never one to place all her eggs in one basket, but never did I dream that she would have left me behind in the army barracks while she mounted her attack on my old home. Even though I had received the message from the others to start the protocol, I hadn't been able to act upon it yet seeing as though, before I had taken more than about 5 steps out of my tent, the goddess in question had all but forced me back inside and set a guard of bout 20 monsters outside the door in case I tried anything funny. Not that this small a number of enemies would have stopped me before, but I did have my cover to keep. Still, being under house (tent?) arrest did have its advantages.

Checking my watch, I decided that it was, once again, time to stick my head out from under the canvas to see how the guards were, asking them if they had heard anything new about how the battle went, as I had every half hour since it had begun, and of course, I was told the exact same thing, that they didn't know. Feigning disappointment, I waited until my head was once again blocked from sight by the fabric before I let the grin stretch across my features, I could have sworn I had just seen one of the guards yawn, and the others were also beginning to look sleepy.

Although I did actually want to know what was going on, on the other side of no-man's-land my regular checks had a hidden motive that was not worry for my friends as the guards probably suspected. No, it was much more fun. Slowly and steadily, for the last 2 hours, I had been pulling a small amount of strength from all of the enemies remaining in the camp (which would be around half the army) carefully weakening them in a way that they would merely put down to the boredom of monotonous tasks so that, very soon, they would slip into unconsciousness and I would be free to wander the camp.

Still, it was another 15 minutes of sitting there, staring into space, before my sensitive ears finally picked up the noise I was waiting for, the soft thump of bodies hitting the ground just outside my tent. Hardly daring the breathe I inched closer to the flap which worked as a door and peeked my head outside, struggling to hold in my laughter. Outside, all of the squad gathered to keep an eye on me were curled up on the soft ground… I could have sworn that I could even see one of the dracaena sucking her thumb. Perfect.

Silent as I ghost I picked my way around them, casting a quick glance back to the interior of my cell to check that my shadow had remained as a dummy of me in case the monsters awoke while I was out, I slipped into the shadows and allowed my presence to fade. Disguised in this way, I made my way around the camp heading to where the majority of the remaining army were gathered, the mess hall. Once there, I perched in a corner and listened, two of the Cyclopes were in the middle of an argument.

"I say, the only reason we were left behind was because bone head over here can't be trusted to know which side he needs to clobber!"

The speaker was one of the largest and ugliest of his kind that I had ever had the misfortune to come across, but, unfortunately, what he lacked in that department, he seemed to make up for with the cold intelligence I could see shining out of his horrible eye, but, thankfully, the idiocy of his partner more than made up for that it seemed.

"No, its cause 'oo can't be trusted not te eat the blasted, 'arpies 'oo's a pig oo is!"

I nearly laughed at the perfect opportunity these guys presented me, from the sounds and smells of the room, everyone in it was obviously on the wrong side of sober, and from the facial expressions I could see from my position , there was enough animosity in the air to make world war 2 look like a snowball fight, which was just brilliant or me.

I remembered when I was younger, the book Annabeth made me read about these funny little people that ran around trying to chase this dragon out of a mountain, and, though I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was called, I do still know that there was a bit where one of the party managed to make some trolls fight by mimicking their voices, delaying them until the sun rose and turned them into stone. Well, these guys wouldn't die in the sunlight, but if I could just give them the right push, maybe they would finish the job for me. Sidling up to the shadows behind the first speaker, I silently thanked Chaos for the ability he gave me over copying people.

"Well, I would rather be a big than an incorrigible sot that can't tell his own mama from a trout, still, not that she looks any better."

The minute the words left my lips I dashed back out of the way. I hid myself safely in the shadows of the room again, and not a moment too soon as it seemed like the thick headed Cyclops had finally managed to figure out that the last comment had been an insult because he suddenly let out a growl of rage.

"Oh? 'oo think oo is so smart? How'd oo explain the fact that oo lost te a merman then?"

There were some grunts at this as the room began to take sides, from my new position however, I could see that the one I had mimicked had also broken through his shock and was looking around the assembled crowd in quiet fury.

"Who said that? Come on, I want you to own up. Who was the little blighter that just copied my voice? Was it you? Eh punk?"

The crowd began to fall further and further down the slope to conflict and, even as I watched the insults and accusations being thrown around, I could feel the tension building in the room. Still, a pile of logs soaked in oil was never dangerous until someone threw a mach and, silently, I strode forwards to do just that. Nearing an unwary telkine from behind as he sharpened his sword I couldn't help grinning to my self as I pictured the chaos that was about to ensue. All it took was a short, sharp nudge to send him stumbling forwards and impaling his weapon through the foot of a hyperbean giant for all hades to brake loose. Dodging all the flailing fists and flying weapons, I made my way over to the door and outside before cracking up at how easy that had been. I was about to head back to my tent there and then, but I felt something cold slither through my heart that stopped me short. Something was wrong.

Within seconds, I could feel what remained of the army heading back from the hill, though their numbers were greatly diminished, the speed they were going at would mean that I would be surrounded before I could make my way back to the tent, and then there would be no way that Gaea would miss my presence in the starting of the fight. Doing the only thing I could in the time I had, I willed myself to appear at camp half-blood, leaving my shadow to act as a decoy.

Alyssa's PoV:

We were all gathered in the rec room of the big house, supposedly to plan our next move now that the army had retreated, but no one was even speaking. The atmosphere in the room weighed heavily upon all of us, and it was almost impossible not to feel the dark vibes coming off the assassins and the one god that none of us had ever presumed to see cry. Although we were all gathered around the old ping-pong table, it felt like we had never been so far apart.

At the opposite end to where I sat with Chiorin, Nenyo and Taralan, Hades was being propped up by his younger brothers as he wept, both of them looked uncomfortable with the situation, but they were doing their best to comfort him… apparently. Over in the corner however, the feeling couldn't have been more different. Agape was actually having to physically restrain Shade and Karma, though the anger that leached from every movement in their actions was flickering in her eyes. Beside me, Taralan sighed.

We remained like that for no one knows how long, before we were all jolted back to reality by a flash of rosy light and the sudden appearance of an old friend. Revealed when the light faded, was Piper Mclean rolling on the floor laughing, looking exactly the same as the last time I had seen her over 2000 years ago.

We all watched her in shocked disbelief at first, as her mirth slowly died down when she took in the atmosphere in the room, however, one look at her allies was enough to destroy whatever was left of her good humour as her demeanour suddenly became ice cold.

"What happened?"

Slowly, bit by bit, we managed to get the story out, each person continuing on when the one before trailed off into silence, and, once Shade had finally managed to spit the last truth about Gypsy's death from behind his clenched teeth, we all waited in silence for her reaction, though I doubt that any of us expected what came next.

Moving slowly, like a sleepwalker raising from their bed, she pushed herself onto her feet and shone feral snarl at all of us. Even as we watched however, that expression soon morphed into a smirk that made my skin crawl and I became shockingly aware that this girl was not the Piper I once knew. She was not the girl who was insecure about her boyfriends feelings, nor was she the one that complained about her siblings' overbearing shallowness. No, here stood a being much more powerful and wild than the demi-god child I once knew. Even before she spoke I was fearing her next words.

"Then what are we waiting for. Don't you think it's about time that we offered up our prayers for our fallen sister? I'm willing to bet that she will appreciate a whole hoard of sacrifices offered up in her name and, thankfully, I know the exact place to find them."

Then, without another word, she strode out of the room, leaving us all in a shocked silence.

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**A/N: And there you have your new chapter, sorry again for the delay and I hope you liked it. Still, the final battle is just around the corner and with the assassins burning for revenge it is going to be pretty savage no? Anyway, bonus question from me this chapter and if you get it right you get some… er… Apple pie, yeah, that'll do. To get this wonderful treat, you just have to tell me what book it was that Annabeth made Piper read and I will pass you on to my beta for the normal question, enjoy!**

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**Sara: Yay, new chapter... anyway, the question for this is...um..:**

**What did the kids at camp HB nickname Clarisse's electric spear?**


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: Okay, here is the chapter you have all been waiting for, I hope it is alright, but I have a slight headache so I cannot assure top notch quality, still, I hope you enjoy it, and there is a song to go with this chapter, try listening to "Saviour" By the black veil brides, that sums it up pretty well. Anyway, this chapter is for: ****Ckies**** with cookies here for:**

**Elliefs**

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**Ahhhhhhh**

**Oh, and some apple pie here for: **_**Sol Spell Diggory, Athena200, Enigmatic Person and MinervaStar **_**I hope you guys enjoy it!**

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Shade's PoV:

As Rogue left the room, I followed without thinking. Now was not the time for strategies or plots, now was the time to take action. Our enemy was weakened and in disarray, it was time to press our advantage while we still had it and everyone in the room knew this. Within moments we had all gathered on top of half-blood hill. All of us tense and grim faced. We all knew this was not going to be easy, but I was not going to fail again, I was going to keep them safe, no matter what I had to do.

When we charged the camp, I lead them in, running alongside my sister in all but blood, with my mother by my side. Together we were like a wall of death, none who stood in our way left our presence alive, though, of course, there was no way that our very existence could be ignored, not in the base camp of our enemy, not when Gaea herself was joining in the battle.

Within minutes I found the tide of enemies around my blade lessen and, when I lifted my eyes from the slowly dissolving corps of the giant I had just slain with the help of mother, I saw the reason why. Standing there, only a few feet away at most, their free hands locked together casually, were the two primordials that we had come to face. Beside me, I felt Nyx stiffen and I heard her hiss when her eyes locked on to the conjoined hands.

"I see you finally decide to show yourself dear husband, though I will ask you to forgive my lack of enthusiasm on that point seeing as though you appear with my sister."

Her words, like knives, were unlike her to say the least. She was staring daggers at the two, and I knew it wasn't long before she attacked, the long sword sheathed at her waist began to absorb the warmth from the air even as her hand twitched over the hilt. Seeming oblivious to the tension between the others, the goddess of the earth turned back to me, smiling like a child who had just been handed a present they had not been expecting. I had to admit, she was a very good actress.

"Ah, young Perseus here we are again, though I doubt you remember the first time am I right? I was talking to darling Piper over there and I seemed to pick up something about lost memories. And, of course, she left me such a little gift earlier that I need to thank her for that too."

I felt Rogue's hand tighten on mine, but I barely heard her growl. Gaia knew something about my missing memories, and, from her tone of voice, she could bring them back. The idea in itself was enough to wind me, bring me up short and freeze my mind. I had been dying to know of my past for many years now, but every time I asked mother, she merely told me that she did not know any of it until she had adopted me several thousand years ago. Unfortunately, the earth mother seemed to notice my hesitation and her grin widened. When she next spoke, her words were little more than a deep purr, but they were enough to destroy all that I had ever known.

"Yes, it seems that you know something about that too. Tell me, do you want them back? If you do, it may be a good idea to ask my darling sister to return what she has taken. After all, it was here that took them in the first place!"

Disbelief must have been obvious on my face as she said this however, because she continued on with a light chuckle that was out of place in an area filled with agonised screams and the pounding of metal upon metal as swords collided in a desperate struggle between life and death.

"Oh, you don't believe me? Well then, how about you ask you mother, or rather, Nyx. I am sure that she will be happy to answer the questions of her favourite son."

Searching for some sign that she was lying and that my memories had really been lost in the accident that mother had told me was the cause, I turned to her, pleading with my eyes for her to deny it but, to my complete and utter horror, she turned her face away, unable to meet my eyes.

I couldn't believe it, the one person I had trusted above all others, the one who truly knew just how much it hurt me to have lost my past, and she was the one who had taken it in the first place. Had everything else she had said to me been a lie as well? What else was she hiding from me?

As I looked at the goddess Nyx, the true personification of night, I heard my sister beside me trying to calm me down. I was aware of Gaia laughing triumphantly and I could even see the corners of Erebus' lips turn up in a dry smile, but I didn't care. Without even thinking, I just let my instincts take hold and I attacked the woman who had, apparently, been controlling me my entire life.

Karma's PoV

All of my life I have known that all things happen in their right time, in the course of which they were set. No matter what we tried, there was no way that things were going to change for us, that is one of the first lessons you needed to learn as a child of time, but still, even as we made our way to the top of the hill, exchanging our normal clothes for our armour as we walked, I couldn't help thinking that, perhaps, all of this had come far too soon. I didn't want to fight, I never do, no one would if they could feel all the pain that the battle would inflict on everyone there, not to mention on the people after it had finished, but I really didn't have a choice, not this time anyway.

As we went, I couldn't help but cast a glance in Shade's direction, he had always made it his personal goal to keep all of us safe, so now it must have felt like the worst kind of failure to him. His face was paler than I had ever seen it, the normally caramel coloured skin blanched to almost a sickly yellow shade, his lips pressed into a thin line that showed his strain. I knew what he was thinking, he was going to go after Ice, but I could not let him do that.

All along I had known who the traitor would be, but, like a stupid little girl, I forced myself not to believe it, told myself that it had to be someone else, or that he was being controlled by the enemy. But here he was. He had betrayed us and now, he had killed one of our adopted family. The group that we had formed after we had all lost everything of importance to us, and now he had destroyed it.

As all the others formed ranks at the front of the hill, getting ready to charge the weakened monster camp now that we could get directions from Rogue, I allowed myself to fall back, deliberately dawdling until I was surrounded by girls in silver parkers who all clasped their bows nervously. This was where I would remain.

None of the others knew Ice as well as I did, so they were all blind to his motives, though, to me, they were all to clear and that would make it harder for me to fight him when the time came. He was not, as the others suspected, aiming for Demeter with the dagger, but for the younger goddess at her side, the immortal maiden that ran the hunt and, now, commanded the force of the moon.

When he was a child, Ice… no, Tayen, had seen his father murdered in front of him and, from then on, he had faced an awful life. His happiest memories came from the time where he had lived with his mother, a time before the ancient rules were put in place and he had earned the right to live on Olympus. But then she had faded, her place taken by Artemis and his resentment for that goddess had grown from that time onwards. Doubtless Gaia had said she knew a way to bring back the lost immortals, but there was no way that was possible.

At an unseen signal, our army charged down the hill, but I hung back, shadowing the one goddess that truly mattered, following every step she took, though she herself was unaware of my presence, that I made sure of.

Through the battle we fought, I was surprised by how much effort she actually put in to fighting side by side with her huntresses, it was rather admirable, and the adoration she held from them was easily seen by any who thought to look. I was beginning to like this goddess very much when I felt a familiar presence heading our way and I tensed. A second later, I rushed forwards, grabbing the force and pushing it back as I ran. Eventually we stopped in the middle of a lonely field where the sound of battle could barely reach us. It was here were I stepped back and allowed my eyes to fall upon the man I now had to kill as he kicked out with his foot, thinking that I was about to attack him. When he looked up, his hood had fallen back and I could see his smile, though all it did was make my heart break a little more in my chest.

"Celeste… Now is not the time for this, there is work for us to-"

"No! For once, you do not have my aid."

He looked shocked at that, this was the first time I had ever stopped him, the first time I had ever disagreed with him, or let him see my intentions. This was the first time, and the last. As I thought this I felt the tears rush down my cheeks and I took a step towards the sea cliff behind us, allowing the shadows to wash over me. His face went pale at my actions, he was not used to seeing my emotions either, normally my façade was perfect, but, today it had cracked and he did not know the cause of it. The idea that I was about to do something against him did not even bother to cross his mind.

"Look, Cel, I have to do this, its just… I have to!"

He was desperate now, shaking because he could not think how to explain himself in a way that I would understand. He took a step in my direction, but I kept going backwards. Just as I predicted, he followed at a faster speed until I was eventually enveloped in his arms, both of us at the root of the cliff. Yes, there was no one who knew the son of Selene better than I did. No one at all. I looked up into his perfectly pale eyes and pulled his face down to mine once more. Against his lips I whispered two words before the world exploded and the cliff collapsed, turning the world into little more than a blur of colour soon followed by darkness.

"Forgive me."

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**There, I hope you liked it. Sorry about the thing with Gaia and Shade attacking Nyx if you didn't like it, but that was exactly the kind of trick I saw her trying in battle. Anyway, Sara is off on holiday so you get the question from me again today.**

**Who was the first owner of Piper's dagger?**


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N: Okay, I know that this is like, what, a moth after the last one? More? Anyway, I'm gonna blame that on school, as I just started colledge, but that really isn't a valid excuse I know. Any who, this chapter is for: ****Wolfman613 ****With cookies for:**

**FateofChaos**

**Ksoccer16**

**Velocity Drew Warren**

**Thananto's Wrath**

**TimeLadyofTARDIS**

**AGreyMood ****(sorry no bonus points awarded for this chapter)**

**Minerva Star ****(yes, in his introduction, he actually says that, sorry.)**

**Book Devourer**

**Clefspear**

**Aoe123**

**Candyland7**

**Neptune's daughter**

**Guest**

**Ziaaaa**

**Micheal Furguson **

**Ckies**

**KuroYuuki-Hime**

**Gg**

**Enigmatic Person ****(sorry, I know it isn't well explained, but Tayen means "little moon" she is calling him that because she is breaking the bond of team mates, but she can't break the bond of lovers quite yet… sorry.)**

**Katyuana**

**Hibye**

**TheTruesonofChaos**

**Archumus**

**Athena 2000**

**Guest**

**Guest**

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Alyssa's PoV:

All the way through the battle, I had stuck close to the three warriors that wrecked the most damage on the enemy, keeping to their shadows and fighting from the back where ever I was needed. I have no idea why I stayed there, instead of joining my friends in the thick of the battle while we made our way to the fringe, but something told me to stay where I was. As such, when the two deities arrived, I was also present, though I don't think any of them recognised that fact apart from the Earth mother.

As I thought back against the monsters that were trying to sneak up from behind, I listened to the icy exchange between Nyx and her husband, marvelling at the power that was layered under every word, but, when Gaia began to speak, I froze.

_"Ah, young Perseus here we are again, though I doubt you remember the first time am I right? I was talking to darling Piper over there and I seemed to pick up something about lost memories. And, of course, she left me such a little gift earlier that I need to thank her for that too."_

Perseus…

On hearing that name, I turned on unfeeling legs to stare holes into the back of Shades head, noticing how the wind had picked up the strands of raven black hair and messed them up in such a familiar way. At the goddess' words, the assassin froze and I re thought over what was just said and I locked on to something. _Lost memories. _Percy did not remember his past, he didn't remember how he betrayed us. Betrayed me. But, at least now everything made sense, why is aura seemed to immediately put me at ease. Why he shared such a striking semblance of the lost sea prince. Why my heart reacted the way I did when I was around him. And I hated him for it.

Tears obscured my vision for a moment, but then, that dratted goddess began to speak once again, and her words confused me.

"Yes, it seems that you know something about that too. Tell me, do you want them back? If you do, it may be a good idea to ask my darling sister to return what she has taken. After all, it was here that took them in the first place!"

Wait… Nyx had taken his memories? Why would she do that? In fact, why would Percy even be with the mother of the night in the first place, wasn't he with Gaia? After all, he had been talking to her in the ca… No. Back in that cave, in the battle, Percy had been talking to a primordial, but it had not been our enemy. How could I have been stupid? All these years I had been trying to find a reason for his actions and it had been staring me straight in the face, but I was too arrogant to accept it. After all, I knew what I had heard.

Falling to my knees, I could do little more than watch as Shade turned to attack the woman beside him, tears glistening in his own eyes that reflected such a pained expression that it turned my heart in two.

"_Now, arise as my champion Percy Jackson, son of the sea, it is about time that we put an end to this pathetic fighting once and for all."_

_What had Nyx called them in the infirmary? She had said they were her champions, I'm sure of it! And put an end to the fighting they had done, from the stories I had heard, it had been only 15 minutes between me passing out and the war ending… Percy had sold himself to Nyx just to save us, and look what we had done in return._

"_You will be branded as a traitor, there will be no way back to your past life."_

_The words that had never made any sense to me before now clicked into place, and with it, they unlocked millennia worth of anger and frustration that I had been too cut up to use. Rising slowly, but firmly to my feet, I clasped the hilt of my dagger much firmer in my hand and prepared to charge forward at the cause of all the pain in my life as she was distracted, amused by watching the boy I love fighting his adoptive mother. However, before I could go more than a few steps, I felt a strong arm wrap around my waist, restraining me, and a hand slip over my mouth._

_Acting on instinct, I lashed out, trying to break the grip of whoever it was holding me, but they seemed to be expecting my reaction and simply moved with the blow, leaving it completely ineffectual. After a short second, before I really had chance to panic, I felt soft breath on my cheek and an all too familiar voice whispering in my ear… it was Piper._

_"Look, I understand how you feel, but that problem is just going to have to wait. I need you to go and distract Percy long enough for Nyx to smooth things out between them, otherwise we stand no chance!"_

_She said all of this calmly in one breath, as if she was merely `commenting on the weather, not the outcome of a battle where all of our lives were at stake. It was, this, more than anything that really brought home just how different they were now to in the past. Where we had been enjoying a prolonged time of peace, with nothing more dangerous than normal, demi-god life always was, my friends had been away, fighting in wars… killing __people. __After all, hadn't Shade said that he was an assassin for chaos? How different was he now from when I last saw him? When the daughter of Aphrodite finally removed her slender fingers from over my mouth, I was barely able to think enough to reply, all of these thoughts rushing around in my head being majorly distracting._

_"I don't think I can do this, he isn't… he isn't my Seaweed brain anymore!"_

Behind me I heard the younger girl sigh as she moved forwards to take a place at my left hand, a place where she had fought at before many long years ago, the memories coming back even as she looked deep into my eyes.

"Trust me, if there is one thing I know, it's that he never stopped loving you Annie, trust me, I am a daughter of Aphrodite after all!"

I don't know whether she was using charm speak in that last sentence, or whether I was just so desperate for that to be true, but, the next thing I knew, I was walking calmly towards where my boyfriend stood panting, sword draw and tensed, eying the mistress of the night warily as though he was a caged animal. More hesitantly now, I took a cautious step forwards, placing a shaking hand on a suddenly rigid shoulder as he turned to glare at me. For a moment, it was truly terrifying, there was no trace of the boy I knew anywhere in those lilac depths, but then, when he seemed to recognize me, something in his gaze shifted, became softer.

"A-alyssa?"

His voice was hoarse, rough from unshed tears and betrayal as he looked at me, and it was all I could do not to flinch as he uttered my assumed name, the name I had taken on purely to forget him, but now, I wanted nothing more than to lose it, with all that it meant.

"No, it's me… Annabeth!"

To my complete and utter dismay, my words only seemed to bring confusion to those glowing orbs as he looked at me quizzically and I felt my throat clench up. In the end, he still had his memories taken, he still didn't know me. No matter what Piper said, this boy was not Percy, he was just someone who shared his body. I felt myself tense as though I was going to run off from that piercing gaze that cut right through me, but a different voice, smooth and melodious, interrupted my thought process and drew the attention of both of us to its source.

"My son… I never wished to trick you, but I must confess that it was me who took those memories from you. I'm sorry."

Her words, though spoken as little more than a strained whisper from a clenched throat, seemed to have a dramatic effect on the immortal in front of me as the furious fire in his eyes rekindled itself. However, I was sure that this time, it was darker, sadder as his sense of betrayal and hurt bled into them, quenching the flame slightly.

"B-but… why? Why did you do it? Why didn't you tell me?"

In that moment, his voice sounded so lost, so helpless that I was suddenly reminded of the 12 year old boy who had just been forced to leave his mother in the hands of Hades. It cut me that he would appear so venerable once again, after all he had been through, and I felt my arm slowly wrap around his shoulders, dragging him closer so as to comfort him in some way. I tried to hide it, but a small part of my mind screamed in happiness when he actually relaxed, sword falling to his side as he relaxed into my embrace, leaning heavily against me. In a voice still as soft as a lullaby, Nyx continued.

"I took them from you because you asked me too, and I did not say anything because you would want to know why. I did not want you to live through that again, so I hid them from you. I am sorry Percy… but I thought it was for the best."

She seemed to sigh in defeat at these words, and her youthful face began to look lined and care worn. In my arms, I felt Percy stiffen slightly once again as he looked her over, wonder thick in his voice when he asked the question that we were all sure was going to follow.

"Why? Why did I want to forget? What did I want to forget?"

Midnight black eyes looked up into my own as the goddess gave me permission to continue where she had left off in the explanation and, even though I could feel a small part of my heart breaking from simply thinking the words, I obliged.

"Me. You wanted to forget me Seaweed brain."

"Yes, and I think it is about time that you remembered my son, it would hurt both of you more if you did not."

With that, she took a final step towards us, placing one finger on the centre of his forehead and pushing slightly. It looked like such a small thing, but Percy blinked like he had just been punched in the face and he would no doubt have fallen if I wasn't holding him up in a vise like grasp. After a second, he opened his eyes again, but this time, they were a deep, beautiful sea green when they locked onto my own. A bright light seemed to glisten from their depths as he looked me over, the light of recognition, and, slowly, his signature grin spread across his face, simply taking my breath away.

"Hey Wise girl!"

At that, all I could do was grin at him goofily, glad to have him back after all these years as he slowly, torturously slowly, lowered his face so that his lips met mine in a soft question that seemed to make all the worries of the past centuries wash away in a single second. Just like the last kiss we had shared, it was sweet and reassuring, taking my mind off o everything around us for that one moment that my focus tunneled, but, all too soon, our situation was once again brought to our attention by a polite cough somewhere over to our left.

"I'm sorry to interrupt… but, I think your friend may need our help right about now…"

In that one instant, everything came crashing back as we turned to stare in horror as Piper tried to take on both of the primordials at the same time and she was losing… badly. She had taken them on just to give us time for our reunion, so it was about time that we returned the favor. After sharing one last glance with the boy beside me, we charged forwards once again, side by side, just as we should be.

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**A/N: there you have it… my attempt (and failure) at writing fluff. I hope you enjoyed it, and I am so so sorry about the long wait. (Don't worry, you don't have to try and kill me, Sara already claimed that job!) Anyway, over to my Beta for the question!**

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**Sara: yes, don't worry, I will fetch my shot gun right away. Anyway, to distract potential witnesses... I mean, set up the contest for the next chapter, here is the new question**

**Who is the leader in cabin 9 before Leo?**


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